Hope in Day to Day Living of Residents in Long-term Care

Abstract

A project designed to focus on hope for residents was implemented in an ongoing support group in a long-term care facility in Western Canada. Because seniors frequently enter a care center when there has been a decline in function it is imperative to provide the necessary resources to enable them to maintain as much functional status as possible and to ensure an adequate quality of life. Hope is about envisioning a future in which they would be willing to participate, even in the face of adverse circumstances. With hope they are more willing to try things and risk participating in the programs offered. Without it they feel at the mercy of circumstances and can slip into depression. This project was implemented based on the belief that hope is a necessary element for seniors to achieve and maintain a good quality of life. An eight session pilot project (offered twice monthly) was delivered to residents who were members of an already existing small group. Each session focused intentionally on strategies that were designed to enhance hope. During the group sessions, residents explored their own understanding and conceptions of hope and participated in activities designed to foster hope. Residents were interviewed prior to and after the completion of the eight sessions regarding their understandings of hope and how the sessions impacted them. Hope focused strategies that were used will be presented. Since this project will be implemented during the winter of 2012 (February-May), preliminary findings will be presented.