Annotated Bibliography

Bursack, Carol B. "Get Over Feelings That Prevent You From Visiting the Nursing Home." Agingcare.com. AgingCare, LLC. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. <http://www.agingcare.com/Articles/visiting-elderly-nursing-homes-guilt-stress-emotions-139127.htm>. This article provides an insight of what to expect when you visit a nursing home. It also separates facts from myths, and assures you that nursing homes are not scary. It also lists reasons why you should visit the elderly in nursing homes. This article is useful because it gave me an idea of what nursing homes really are like before I actually volunteered at one. I would use this in my research paper when I talk about the reasons why people should visit old people at nursing homes.

Daily Mail Reporter. "Revealed: Sad Plight of the Thousands of Elderly Left Alone in Homes 'without Letters, Visits or Calls' in Their Final Years." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers Ltd, 11 Nov. 2010. Web. 02 Feb. 2012. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328425/Thousands-elderly-left-homes-letters-visits-calls-final-years.html>. This article focused on all the elderly in nursing homes who felt isolated and felt as if they are not wanted on Earth. It also provided a study done by a government funded research program. This article also shows how the elderly in nursing homes are living extremely sad lives. This article also provides many facts and numbers, which I can use in my paper to prove how many people are not receiving any calls or letters.

Katz, Sidney, comp. Improving the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes. Washington, D.C.: National Academy, 1986. Print. This book talks about quality of care and quality of life in nursing homes. It mentions different types of techniques needed for staff members to know to take care of the patients. This book also touches upon how patients will feel toward certain situations. I could use this in my paper to prove how the patients will feel in certain conditions, for example how they would feel if visitors came to visit them and if they involved religious services in nursing homes.

Krause, Daniel Robert. Home Bittersweet Home: Old Age Institutions in America. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1982. Print. This book mainly focused on the effects of old age institutions on the elderly. It also included many interviews with patients in nursing homes. The book also did a great job describing how nursing homes affect people. I will definitely be able to use this in my paper to provide evidence that people in nursing homes indeed feel isolated at times.

McManamy, John. "Depression in the Elderly." McMan's Depression and Bipolar Web. Copyright 2010 John McManamy, 15 Dec. 2003. Web. 04 Feb. 2012. <http://www.mcmanweb.com/elderly_depression.html>. This article mainly focuses on depression in the elderly. As a journalist and author, McManamy informs us that although older people have much more to be depresses about, depression is not part of normal aging. He also listed guidelines for elderly people with depression. I could use this in my paper to show that depression in the elderly is not normal, although more likely, and that we should take more action. It also provided a couple studies and facts, which will also be useful in the paper.

Severtson, James. Personal interview. 12 Mar. 2012. During this interview, James Severtson, an older aged high school reprographics teacher, informed me about his mother, a patient in a nursing home. He informed me that his mother was probably one of the most active patients in the nursing home. However, he did agree that many were not like her and many were too tired to even participate in activities. Although he is able to e-mail his mother, not many other patients are able to even use the computer, making it harder for them to communicate with their loved ones, causing more isolation. I would use this interview in my paper to prove that although some can easily communicate, others are not able to.

Span, Paula. "The Nursing Home Exodus, Part 2." The New Old Age Blog. The New York Times Company, 8 Dec. 2011. Web. 09 Apr. 2012. <http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/the-nursing-home-exodus-pt-2/?ref=nursinghomes>. This article is mainly about an elderly person who hates nursing homes and would rather live at his home. This patient does not like how he is not permitted to do anything his way at the nursing home he is staying at. He, like many other patients, would rather spend his last days at home where he is happy. I could use this in my paper to prove that although there are many patients who live in nursing homes, they still do not consider it their home and would much rather live at their real home than a nursing home.

Zezima, Katie. "Experiencing Life, Briefly, Inside a Nursing Home." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 23 Aug. 2009. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/health/24nursing.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all>. This article was about a student pretending to be a patient in a nursing home to experience how life was for an actual patient. Although the student does say that there are many activities in nursing homes, she also says that the majority of the people do not get involved in them. She later on finds out that the patients are too tired for these activities and would much rather do something that does not involve much movement. This would be very useful in my paper because it basically gives a reason to why the elderly patients in nursing homes do not participate in the many activities provided by the nursing homes, which will get to my point that we need different activities to help keep them happy.

Research Source Log for Book Source #7

Title of the Book (in italics when typed, underlined when written)	Improving the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes
Author(s) or Editor	Various Authors
Publisher	National Academy Press
Year of Publication	1986
City of Publication	Washington, D.C.
Mode of Access (Print if you read the actual book, Electronic if you found it online, or through your kindle/nook/ereader):	Print
Eddition if indicated:

FIVE FACTS FROM THE SOURCE (Embedded):

The residents will feel much more loved if they have "close relationships and meaningful interchange with others" (Katz, 52).

Although "opportunities for choice are necessarily somewhat limited," other nursing homes "need not be as limited" (Katz, 52).

There are many choices that can affect the mental and physical health status of the elderly in nursing homes, including, "the interaction between staff and residents, the range of services and amenities available to residents," and even "the quality of medical and nursing care provided" and "the way it is provided" (Katz, 53).

Although many residents will stay there for a long period of time, "their well-being is affected by the environment" (Katz, 50).

Engaging in "religious, political, civic, recreational, or other social activities" make patients in nursing homes feel worthy (Katz, 51).

Summary of Source (Three-Four Sentences of the Who, What, Where, Why, and How in your own words. NO OPINION): 

 Improving the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes focuses mainly on the quality of care in nursing homes, the quality of life, and the quality assessment criteria. It mentions different types of techniques needed for staff members to know to take care of the patients. This book also touches upon how patients will feel toward certain situations.


Credibility of Source:
Author or Editor: Who is the author? What training have they had? If there is no author, examine the editor. 


There are a total of 27 people who helped write and put this book together. They have all studied health and helped with finding the research needed to complete this book.

Attachment: Does the author or editor have anything to gain from writing this, or is it simply informative?


This book is simply informative but is also written to garner a profit.


Bias: Do you detect a bias (a favoring of either side) in the author's writing?

I do not detect a bias in the author's writing because he/she writes both the negative and positive in nursing homes.


References: Does the author cite references in the writing? If so, do these add or take away from the credibility? 

The author does cite references in the writing, adding to the credibility.

Use of Source: How will you use this source in your project?  

 I plan to use this source as a primary reference to show the different things one can do to make the elderly feel worthy of their life.

Research Source Log for Book Source #6

Title of the Book (in italics when typed, underlined when written)	Home Bittersweet Home: Old Age Institutions in America
Author(s) or Editor	Daniel R. Krause
Publisher	CHARLES C THOMAS
Year of Publication	1982
City of Publication	Springfield, Illinois
Mode of Access (Print if you read the actual book, Electronic if you found it online, or through your kindle/nook/ereader):	Print
Eddition if indicated:

FIVE FACTS FROM THE SOURCE (Embedded):

The "anxieties of Americans about growing old" grow more and "more intense" each time they hear a "new horror story about nursing home life" (Krause, v).

Most of the "residents" in nursing homes "get accustomed" to the life-style and life in "an old age institution" is definitely not even similar to "life in an individual's own home" (Krause, 67).

When you are a patient in a nursing home, you are not allowed to "get" your "own breakfast," "fix" your "own coffee," nor "go to bed" at the time that you would like to (Krause, 67).

Patients in nursing homes definitely feel isolated at times, but it "is not physical isolation but is social isolation" (Krause, 65).

"Social scientists" have found that people who move into nursing homes "lose contact with their relatives and friends living outside," however, the "isolation is almost accidental" (Krause, 65-66).

Summary of Source (Three-Four Sentences of the Who, What, Where, Why, and How in your own words. NO OPINION):


This book tells us about life in an old age institution. It mainly talks about what institutions are like, names what high quality institutions do, talks about who should live in a nursing home, and even the life-style and how isolation is present in nursing homes. Not only does it do that, but it also helps the reader decide if a nursing home really is the right choice for them.





Credibility of Source:
Author or Editor: Who is the author? What training have they had? If there is no author, examine the editor.


The author is Daniel Robert Krause. He is an associate professor and has a Ph. D. in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. He graduated from Roosevelt University and is from Chicago, Illinois.

Attachment: Does the author or editor have anything to gain from writing this, or is it simply informative?


This book was written to address the issues surrounding nursing homes and to inform people whether nursing homes are right for them or not. The book was also written for profit.


Bias: Do you detect a bias (a favoring of either side) in the author's writing?



I personally think the author is biased toward the fact that nursing homes do cause isolation.


References: Does the author cite references in the writing? If so, do these add or take away from the credibility? 

The author does cite references in the writing, adding to the credibility.

Use of Source: How will you use this source in your project? 

I plan to use this source as a primary reference that provides factual information about nursing homes.