Going into a nursing home can turn out to be a critical life experience if elderly people are afraid of losing their independence and identity after having moved into a nursing home. In order to find out what nursing home residents need in their first year after having moved into a nursing home to maintain their identity and self-determination, 20 problem-orientated interviews with residents of three nursing homes in the Austrian province of Salzburg were conducted and analysed based on content analysis according to Mayring. The participants of this study resist against having decisions taken away from them and fight for their independence and identity. In order to be able to cope with these strains, they need the help of family members, professionals, and identity-forming conversations in new social networks in the nursing home. The study participants draw enough strength from their faith in order to fight for their independence. They develop a new identity close to their previous identity by maintaining autonomy and mobility with a clear focus on the future. 1. Introduction Currently, 16% of the entire European population are 65 years of age or older. From a demographic point of view, the European population is “twice as old” as the world population, whose proportion of senior citizens is 7%. According to forecasts, the proportion of senior citizens will reach 28% in 2050 [1]. Ageing from 75 years and onwards is characterized by critical changes and turning points, such as the death of a partner or a child, increasing health problems, the increasing need for care and possibly the move into an old peoples home or a nursing home [2]. In order to assess the current state of knowledge about the changes which the elderly experience in their first year after having moved into a nursing home, systematic literature research on “what changes do nursing home residents experience after their move into a nursing home?” was conducted [3]. Publications both in English and German, published between 1996 and 2010, were used. The following databases were utilised: Cinahl (Ebsco), Academic Search Elite (Ebsco), PsychInfo, Medline (PubMed), Embase, DIMDI, Gerolit, WISE, Cochrane, and Ageline. Keywords used are residential home/nursing home, home admission/moving into a nursing home, institutionalization, and burden. People who move into a nursing home experience different types of changes which they feel to a greater or lesser degree is stressful. The change in social status, the impact on autonomy, the feeling of having no place to call home, the change in social
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