Sources of well-being for older adults with and without dementia in residential care: relations to presence of meaning and life satisfaction

Abstract

Objectives

To explore what sources of well-being are rated meaningful by older adults in residential care and how they are related to two important well-being outcomes.

Method

Two cross-sectional questionnaire studies were conducted in a sample of care residents without cognitive disability (n = 329) and with Alzheimer’s disease (n = 104). Structural equation modelling was used to test a hypothesized and exploratory model of different sources as predictors of presence of meaning in life (POM) and satisfaction with life (SWL).

Results

Family and Health were rated most meaningful by residents with and without dementia. In both studies, the hypothesized model showed adequate fit with the data. For cognitively intact residents, Personal Growth, Spirituality/Religion, and Interpersonal Relationships predicted POM, while Family and Leisure predicted SWL. Exploratory testing identified Leisure as a possible additional predictor of POM. For residents with Alzheimer’s disease, Personal Growth and Society/Community predicted POM, while Family predicted SWL.

Conclusion

For older adults in residential care, many sources of well-being remain highly meaningful and some are directly related to the experience of meaning and life satisfaction. Both for residents with and without dementia, continued or increased investment in moments that foster personal growth and family relationships might be especially valuable.

Keywords:

• Meaning in life
• eudaimonic well-being
• hedonic well-being
• nursing home
• Alzheimer’s disease

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the participating residential care settings and residents. We thank our master thesis students for their help in collecting the data.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Notes

1 The data from this scale in Study 1 was also used in a previous published paper focusing on the role of forgiveness and ego-integrity in late life functioning (Derdaele, Toussaint, Thauvoye, & Dezutter, 2017).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders under Grant number 1109417N (to LD).