Why elderly can ‘give up on life’ in care homes

GOING into a care home can make elderly residents give up on life, researchers say.

A lack of mental stimulation often causes apathy which can lead to premature death, a study by foreign academics has revealed.

The charity Age UK says some care homes do not provide engaging activities, leaving frail pensioners ‘ withdrawn and unmotivated’.

The warnings follow a Dutch study which found half of nursing home residents are suffering from apathy which has left them ‘indifferent’ to everyday life.

Apathy, which is distinct from depression and can often go unnoticed, was found to increase the risk of older people dying in the next four months by 62 per cent.

Tom Owen, co-director of the My Home Life project at City, University of London, said: ‘We are seeing older people helping children with history projects and cocktail parties being held in care homes, but it is still a postcode lottery.

‘There are massive problems around social care funding, as well as the problem society has with facing up to frailty and people who are dying. When there is very limited time with staff, even though they are doing their absolute best, you are going to have residents who are not being given the stimulation they need.

‘In those situations they might be likely to end up sitting without much to do in the lounge with the television on.’

There is a funding crisis in

‘Screen people for apathy’

adult social care in the UK, with almost half of patients having their residential or home care paid for by councils whose budget cuts often leave them struggling to pay the fees.

This has led to falling standards, with some homes forced to close. Apathy is not one of the outcomes recorded by officials, but the latest study shows how damaging it can be.

Dutch researchers who looked at 713 care home residents found half were suffering from apathy, defined as ‘reduced interest and participation in the main activities of daily living.’

The authors of the study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, don’t know why apathy may cause premature death, but cite evidence that it accelerates a decline in brain function.

Lead author Johanna Nijsten, from Radboud University in the Netherlands, said: ‘The presence of apathy in nursing home patients should get more attention in daily care.’ She is calling for older people to be screened for the problem, as well as depression and psychiatric disorders, and says offering more activities could help.

In Britain, children in Bristol are being invited into homes to talk to older people and get help with their homework. While people from museums and community groups are being invited to speak to residents in Buckinghamshire.

Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said about 40 per cent of people in care homes are living with depression.

She said many care homes support active lifestyles but ‘many offer the very basics’.

‘That leads to people, who may already feel withdrawn and unmotivated, to deteriorate further and is not helping those people who are finding the move itself challenging,’ she said.