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Principles of good care for long-term care facilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2010

Maggie C. Gibson ,
Mary W. Carter ,
Edward Helmes  and
Anna-Karin Edberg
Maggie C. Gibson*
Affiliation:
St. Joseph's Health Care and Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Ontario, Canada
Mary W. Carter
Affiliation:
Center on Aging, Department of Community Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, U.S.A.
Edward Helmes
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Anna-Karin Edberg
Affiliation:
Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. Maggie Gibson, Veterans Care Program, Parkwood Hospital, St. Joseph's Health Care London, 801 Commissioners Road East, London, Ontario, Canada, N6C 5J1. Phone: 519-685-4292 ext. 42708; Fax: 519-685-4031. Email: maggie.gibson@sjhc.london.on.ca.
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Abstract

Background: The International Psychogeriatric Association Task Force on Mental Health Services in Long-Term Care Facilities aims to support and strengthen mental health services in the long-term care sector. The purpose of this paper is to identify broad principles that may underpin the drive towards meeting the mental health needs of residents of long-term care facilities and their families, as well as to enhance the overall delivery of residential care services.

Methods: Principles of good care are extrapolated from an analysis of international consensus documents and existing guidelines and discussed in relation to the research and practice literature.

Results: Although the attention to principles is limited, this review reveals an emerging consensus that: (1) residential care should be situated within a continuum of services which are accessible on the basis of need; (2) there should be an explicit focus on quality of care in long-term care facilities; and (3) quality of life for the residents of these facilities should be a primary objective. We take a broad perspective on the challenges associated with actualizing each of these principles, taking into consideration key issues for families, facilities, systems and societies.

Conclusions: Recommendations for practice, policy and advocacy to establish an internationally endorsed principles-based framework for the evolution and development of good mental health care within long-term care facilities are provided.

Keywords

agedinstitutionalizedcontinuum of carequality of carequality of liferesidential caremental healthphilosophy of care
Type
Focus on mental health issues in long-term-care homes
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 22 , Special Issue 7: Focus on mental health issues in long-term-care homes , November 2010 , pp. 1072 - 1083
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2010

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