2217 Experiences of older residents in anticipation of transitioning to a new nursing home

Abstract Introduction Transition is potentially a stressful incident to individuals as it requires major life adjustment. Older residents living in a nursing home consider it as their last place of life. When the older residents need to be relocated to a new nursing home, they inevitably face a significant transition due to their high dependency on the physical, psychological, and social needs. There is limited empirical evidence revealing the experiences of older residents who anticipate a transition from the existing nursing home to a new nursing home, thereby hampering our understanding of their needs and limiting the health care professionals, families, and friends to provide appropriate support in such major life event. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of older residents in anticipation of transitioning to a new nursing home. Method A descriptive qualitative approach was adopted. Thirty older residents who were going to be relocated from the existing nursing home to a new nursing home were recruited through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews, each lasted for around 30-minute, were conducted and audio-taped. Data were analysed through thematic analysis. Results Experiences of older residents were summarised in four themes, namely preparing for the transition, having expectations on the new living environment, worrying about changes in daily living, and valuing the support from others. In general, the older residents viewed the transition positively and perceived well-prepared for the transition. Such positive experience was mainly due to the support provided by nursing home staff and families before the transition took place. Conclusion The findings significantly expanded our understanding on the experiences of older residents in anticipation of transitioning to a new nursing home, which is largely absent from empirical evidence. Acknowledgement The work described in this paper was fully supported by Hong Kong Metropolitan University Research Grant (No. RD/2023/1.18).