IMPACT OF THE INTERACTIVE RELATIONSHIP OF INDIVIDUAL COMPETENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRESS ON THE WELL-BEING OUTCOMES OF NURSING HOME RESIDENTS (HEALTH CARE DESIGN).
Contributors: Texas A & M University.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 165
Subjects: Urban and Regional Planning.; Architecture.; Gerontology.
Description: In order to delineate the effects of the nursing home environment on residents' well-being, one must strongly support the assertion that overt behavior and affective responses are largely influenced by the interactive processes involved between the individual's competence and his or her apprehensions of the environment. In other words, the study of nursing home residents' behavior must take an ecological approach, in which each element informing behavior (competence and environmental demands) is considered in connection with the others.

The objectives of this study are, first, to examine the relationships between the interactions of the independent variables (individual competence and environmental demands) and the dependent variables (overt behavior and affective responses) as outcomes, and second, to determine the degree of impact of each independent variable on the dependent ones.

The results of this study provide an abundance of data to support the statement that the less competent an individual is, the more vulnerable he or she will be to environmental influences and demands. In addition, while the additive effect resulting from the combination of environmental demands and individual competence (P + E) was shown to increase the explained variation in well-being outcomes (R$\sp2$ =.87), the product effect or interaction between these two variables (P x E) contributed only slightly to the variation of well-being outcomes (R$\sp2$ =.88).

Finally, some recommendations are presented to aid administrators and designers in structuring more humane institutional settings for the elderly.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-05, Section: A, page: 1973.

Thesis (PH.D.)--TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY, 1993.

School code: 0803.