Need support and wellbeing during morning care activities: an observational study on resident-staff interaction in nursing homes

Quality of life and wellbeing in nursing homes are becoming more important in research and practice. One of the main influences on residents' wellbeing is the interaction with their professional care-givers. The purpose of this study was to explore to what extent care-givers support the residents' needs of relatedness, autonomy and competence, and how this need support is related to wellbeing. Residents and their professional care-givers of four nursing homes in the Netherlands participated in an observational and questionnaire study. Three video-observations of each resident (with different care-givers) were made during morning care. Additional data were collected by means of questionnaires. The results show that the needs of residents were, on average, moderately fulfilled during care interactions. More need support by care-givers was related to higher resident wellbeing. Care-givers provided more need support to residents with stronger functional impairments. More need support was provided by higher-educated care-givers and care-givers in higher job functions. The results show the importance of need support for situational wellbeing, but the contribution to the general subjective wellbeing of residents remains unclear. Further (longitudinal) research is needed to investigate changes in wellbeing over time. Possible differences between subjective ratings and observations of need support and wellbeing should be taken into account.