Abstract

PUPPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze related factors for major nursing diagnoses used in caring for institutionalized elders.
METHOD
This study was a descriptive study. The participants were 92 residents in a long-term care facility in Wonju, selected by convenience sampling. The instrument was a checklist designed on the basis of the related factors suggested by NANDA (1997) and a literature review. Data was collected by chart review, observation, and interviews with the participants. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics with the SPSS WIN program.
RESULT
The most frequent nursing diagnosis was 'risk for injury', 'self-esteem disturbance', 'activity intolerance', 'impaired phyical mobility', and 'powerlessness'. The most frequent component for related factors for the five component for each nursing diagnosis was the physical component, followed by the social component. Common related factors for the nursing diagnoses were 'pain', 'change of emotional state/disorder', 'cognitive disorder', 'change of physical structure and function', and 'physical impairment', and 'immobility'.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study can contribute to the development of appropriate nursing intervention programs for elders (eg. 'Injury Prevention Programs', 'Self-esteem Improvement Programs' etc.). Clinical guidelines that gerontological nurses can use to accurately assess health problems and select appropriate nursing interventions may be developed.

• Keywords: Nursing diagnosis; Elders