Nursing Home Complaints: Who's Complaining and What's Gender Got to Do with It?

Long Term Care Ombudsman Complaint data from one state's 261 nursing homes are examined in the study. We assessed differences between male and female groups, including chiefly residents, but also ombudsmen, the residents' relatives or friends, administrators, legal representatives, and others regarding types and rates of complaints as reported in the Administration on Aging (AoA) major categories of: Resident Care, Resident Rights, Administration, Quality of Life, and Complaints Not Against Facility. Proportionately, male residents lodged more complaints than females. Further, males complained more than females about Resident Rights violations and filed more Complaints Not Against Facility. Females lodged significantly more complaints about Care, Quality of Life and Administration. Thus, males were more likely to report technical, impersonal, and legalistic issues, than females, who were more likely to express concerns about personal care and socio-emotional-environmental issues. Results yielded further evidence of gender differences in the patterns of resident complaints. Nursing home social workers are highlighted as agents in changing embedded stereotypes about residents and complaints. (C) 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.