People who are looking for a long-term care facility for their loved one often look into a variety of factors before making the final decision. Those factors may be centered around things like resident-to-staff ratios, schedules, menus and activity offerings. There is another critical factor that should be considered – the mental health of the residents.
While nursing homes can’t disclose information about individual residents, they should be able to tell you if they have a high percentage of residents who have a diagnosed mental health condition. This is important because nursing home abuse rates are higher at facilities that have a higher rate of resident mental illness, according to a report by American Public Media.
What role does resident mental health play in nursing home abuse?
Facilities that have more residents with mental health conditions will need to have more specialized care. This often includes additional staff training and consistent oversight of residents. Those don’t pose a problem in some long-term care facilities; however, many nursing homes are understaffed, which means that services related to mental health care might be lacking.
Many mental health symptoms, such as confusion, withdrawal or agitation, can be misunderstood when staff members aren’t properly trained or are stressed from being overworked. This could alter how the staff members interact with the resident and how they handle situations, which can mean that residents are mistreated.
Long-term care residents shouldn’t ever be mistreated, but that doesn’t mean it never happens. Anyone who has a loved one looking for a nursing home should look into every aspect of care, including how mental health needs are handled, before deciding on a facility. If any form of abuse or neglect occurs at the facility, the resident may opt to pursue legal action.
