Introduction Previous research has shown that nursing home applicants had negative experiences of living and receiving care in their ordinary housing due to several factors, such as difficulties in everyday activities and being depressed. However, whether these experiences stand solely for nursing home applicants, or are common in an older population in general needs to be investigated.
Aim of this study was to compare nursing home applicants with matched older adults with respect to difficulties in everyday life, life satisfaction and depressive mood.
Methods Using a case-control design, 34 participants (17 in each group) were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank test for continuous variables and McNemar test for binary variables. The magnitude of associations was explored using conditional logistic regression.
Results Nursing home applicants experienced more difficulties in daily life and were more depressed than their matched peers, and this difference between groups was significant. To experience several difficulties in everyday life and being depressed increased the odds for a nursing home application.
Conclusions As aging in place is the societal norm, older adults with increased likelihood of nursing home applications need to be identified and catered for in an early stage, to prevent nursing home admission.