Women with disabilities' experiences in long-term care: a case for social justice.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to explore women with disabilities' perceptions of their lived experiences in nursing homes.


METHODS
This 16-month ethnography used multiple qualitative methods, including participant observations, thematic qualitative interviews, and focus groups, to examine the perceptions of life in nursing home for 6 women with disabilities who had returned to community living and their significant others (n= 13).


RESULTS
Nursing homes were living situations of last resort for women with disabilities. Life in the nursing home was characterized by lost choice, control, and occupational engagement; social isolation; social control; the political economy of the nursing home; and active resistance.


CONCLUSIONS
Occupational therapy practitioners practicing from a social justice paradigm have a responsibility to ensure that client goals to live in the least restrictive environments possible are realized. Implications for long-term-care referral practices, advocacy-based interventions, and partnership with the disability community are discussed.
Magasi
Susan
S
NorthShore University HealthSystem, USA. smagasi@northshore.org
Hammel
Joy
J
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes; D012935:Social Justice; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*