居住於護理之家老人的生活：跨文化比較

The Elderly Living in Nursing Homes: Cross-Culture Comparison

本文的目的在於探討及比較居住於美國及台灣護理之家老人的生活情形。本文的作者運用人類學方法做為資料收集的方式；並觀察一間位於台灣及一間位於美國護理之家老人的生活情況；然後，做一個跨文化的比較。探討結果發現兩個文化中有一個共同主要主題，那就是對老人而言”護理之家是一個無聊的地方”。除此之外，在本文中也探討共同主要主題所包含的四大領域；包括護理之家周圍環境、住民的娛樂、隱私及自主權。在護理之家周圍環境領域包括兩個類型－內在環境與外在環境。兩個文化護理之家之外在環境雖有不同；但內在環境卻有些相同但也有些差異點。在居民的娛樂方面；兩個文化有許多相似點；但美國護理之家居民有較多活動的空間。而且；兩個文化的健康照護者都盡量尊重居民的隱私權及提供居民一些自主權，但是美國護理之家居民比台灣護理之家居民有較多自主權。總之；本文結果可提供對於居住於美國及台灣護理之家老人的生活情形相同及差異點的新知訊。並對於機構、專業人員及文化因素對護理之家老人的生活情形的影響提出些醒思。The purpose of this study was to understand and compare elder's daily life in living in nursing homes in America and Taiwan. Authors used a focused ethnography method for data collection and observation of the elderly's daily life in nursing homes of Taiwan and another nursing home in America. Then, a cross-cultural comparison was presented. One common theme that was revealed in the study was that 'the nursing home is a place to be idle'. There were four domains under the major theme: surrounding environment, residents, recreation and privacy and autonomy. The environment domain was categorized to two subcategories, internal environment and external environment. The external environment of the two cultures' nursing homes is different, but the internal environment has similarities and dissimilarities. Recreations for residents are very similar for both nursing homes, but nursing home residents in the U.S. have more space for activities than nursing home residents in Taiwan. In addition, health care providers in both cultures try to respect residents' privacy and residents have some autonomy, but American nursing home residents have more autonomy than residents in nursing home of Taiwan. In sum, the findings contribute to knowledge of elders' daily life living in nursing homes by demonstrating differences and similarities between American and Chinese elders in Taiwan. The study raises questions about the effects of institutional, professional and cultural factors on the disposition to care for elders.