Being a younger adult facing a future in a skilled nursing facility for anywhere between 20 to 40 years or more can invoke emotions of depression, helplessness, anxiety and hopelessness. Many will move in with conditions including severe mental illness, neurological disorders, substance-use problems and hemiplegia or quadriplegia, making life in the home even more difficult. What are younger adults saying about living in a nursing home?
General Themes
Although everyone’s experiences are different and some younger adults may adjust better than others, there are some common themes which characterize how they feel about their lives in a skilled nursing facility. These general themes are as follows:
Confinement
Younger adults want to get out and have a life outside of the home, but if they can’t as much as they’d like to, they can experience a sense of being confined within the walls of the facility. Being bedridden or relying on a wheelchair may make matters worse. Some will feel helpless due to their physical condition and hopeless because there is simply nowhere else to go.
Lack of Socialization
Most younger people would prefer to be with their peers or younger residents, but instead, they are most likely to be surrounded by old, frail, confused or dying seniors. They would rather be a part of a wider community of similar-aged and like-minded individuals as well as their personal friends, family members and significant others. They would also prefer age-appropriate activities that they find interesting and enjoyable.
Lack of Privacy
Although everyone to a degree wishes to have privacy, younger adults have been found to want it more than older residents in skilled nursing homes. They especially want privacy during personal hygiene routines and aren’t satisfied sharing bathrooms with older adults, as is still the same in a number of nursing homes. More so than their older counterparts, younger nursing home residents are more sexually active and wish to have private time for intimacy with a partner.
Lack of Appropriate Settings to Accommodate Younger Residents
Can skilled nursing facilities really meet the needs of younger residents? Is the physical layout attractive and welcoming to a younger person? Younger adults see nursing homes for old, sick and dying seniors, not a place for them. They may never adjust to the point where they accept the facility as their home.
Loss of Identity
Being younger, physically compromised, dealing with mental health and substance use issues are tough enough. Chronic feelings that one doesn’t belong can make life more difficult. Some younger adults may feel their personhood slipping away. They are no longer in control of their lives.
In Their Own Words
Although there doesn’t exist a lot of scientific or academic literature on this topic, a handful of studies captured exactly how some younger residents feel about living in a nursing home.
- This place is for older adults who are dying and have dementia.
- The quality of life is terrible.
- I feel like I’m talking to my mother all of the time.
- It’s just not normal. I don’t fit in.
- Everything is timed. When you eat, when you sleep, when you do this or that.
- This place makes you feel like a captive.
- It’s hell to live here.
- Every day is the same old story.
Other feelings and experiences of younger residents include boredom, loneliness, unmet needs, disconnection, not sociable enough, lack of control, devoid of meaning, empty landscape of time and depression.
Final Thoughts on Younger Adults in Skilled Nursing
Younger and middle adulthood are times of growth, stability, and success. But, not necessarily for those living in skilled nursing homes. Various physical and mental conditions may be difficult to live with, but spending years in skilled nursing facilities, being unable to go out, detached from same-aged peers, lack of privacy, and feeling as though one’s identity is becoming lost, can make life dull and depressing.