The Gerontologist, Vol 39, Issue 4 426-433, Copyright © 1999 by The Gerontological Society of America
An evaluation of the use of the natural helping network model to enhance the well-being of nursing home residents
CI Cohen, K Hyland and M Devlin
SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn 11203, USA. [email protected]
This article describes and evaluates the Buddy Program, which uses a
natural helping network model to enhance the well-being of persons in
nursing homes. Thirty-six nondemented patients ("buddies") and 33 persons
with dementia completed the 6-month study that involved an educational
program for the buddies and regular meetings between buddy- dementia
patient pairs. Over the 6 months, compared to a matched control group, the
dementia patients showed no advantage on any of the seven outcome measures
and actually had significantly more depressive symptoms and greater nursing
home dissatisfaction. The nondementia buddies showed no differences from
the controls on any of the outcome measures. The results suggest that
natural helping network models may not be easily imported into nursing home
settings.
