Daily crying prevalence and associated factors in older adult persons living in nursing homes: findings from a regional study

ObjectivesThe study aims to evaluate the prevalence of nursing home (NH) resident crying and associated factors at the individual and NH levels. DesignA regional retrospective study design has been used. Participants and settingA total of 8875 residents, living in 105 NHs, were included. MeasurementsThe occurrence of an episode of crying on at least a daily basis in the last month was the dependent variable; independent variables were set at individual and at the NH levels as reported in the Val.Graf regional database. ResultsA total of 1,443 (16.3%) residents reported daily episodes of crying over the last month. Several individual variables were significantly associated with crying; female gender (odds ratio [OR] 2.535, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.069-3.107); sad, pained or worried facial expressions (OR 1.885, 95% CI 1.785-2.021); negative thoughts (OR 1.650, 95% CI 1.508-1.804); unrealistic fears (OR 1.410, 95% CI 1.295-1.534); anger with self or others (OR 1.141, 95% CI 1.043-1.248); repetitive anxious complaints/concerns (OR 1.136, 95% CI 1.045-1.235); clinical instability (OR 1.186, 95% CI 1.018-1.381); pain (OR 1.183, 95% CI 1.058-1.323); night restlessness (OR 1.180, 95% CI 1.100-1.267); communication problems (OR 1.169, 95% CI 1.051-1.300); and cognitive impairment (OR 1.086, 95% CI 1.019-1.156); all increased the likelihood of crying. Conversely, sociability (OR 0.866, 95% CI 0.805-0.932) and being involved in social based activities (OR 0.882, 95% CI 0.811-0.960) were protective against crying. However, the previously mentioned variables have explained only 35.9% of variance in daily crying. ConclusionsAround one out of six residents living in NH cries on a daily basis, and the reasons are also at the individual level. Residents seem to cry for attachment and clinical needs and to express stress and unhappiness; more research is needed, aiming at discovering other factors associated with resident's daily crying. Copyright (c) 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.