Institutionalization, nursing home placement in particular, has typically been examined for its negative impact on individual well-being. Missing are studies of the cognitive impact of placement. Assuming that the organization of life stories both shapes both shapes life's unconnected events and reflects experience, it is argued that major events, like institutionalization, significantly affect the narrative construction of the past, present, and future. The proposed project will investigate the effect of nursing home placement on key components of life course narrative among the elderly. The long-term objective is to examine the tape-recorded life course narratives of a sample of 45 recently-placed elderly nursing home residents, at the end of the first and fifth months after admission, and compare them with the narratives of four other, matched samples of aged persons: (a) 30 community residents not anticipating institutionalization, (b) 30 community residents on waiting lists for nursing home placement, (c) 30 nursing home residents who have resided in a facility for at least one year, and (d) 30 former nursing home residents currently residing in the community. Taken together, they model the process of institutionalization. Open-ended interviews with each subject will be prompted by the request to tell one's life story in a half-hour, """"""""even if it seems impossible."""""""" Specific aims are to code and compare the following key components of the narratives: the shape and continuity of the life course; event significance and linkages; the overall themes or purpose of life; and the characterization of self and others. Stories subsequently will be analyzed for comparative types of narrative construction. Since cognitive organization underpins communication, knowledge of variations in the cognitive organization of the life course will be of practical benefit to health practitioners and planners in formulating """"""""experience-appropriate"""""""" contacts and interventions with elders that are sensitive to major life events of growing old.
