Utilization of old people's home: Residence elderly's perspectives in selected centres in Lagos

Background of the study: Populations around the world are rapidly ageing with emphasis placed on long term care necessary for the dependent fastgrowing members of the population with geriatric conditions.Objectives: To assess the perception of elderly about old people's homes and determine the factors influencing its utilization in selected centres in Lagos. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive, quantitative cross-sectional study. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to all the 52 elderly in the two selected homes for the elderly in Lagos. Data was analysed with SPSS version 20 and presented as tables using descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: They were mainly females (65.4%) with widowed (65.1%). The mean age was 73 years ± 11.86. Majority of respondents (92.3%) have a positive perception about old people's home. Above half (55.8%) got information about the homes from their children and a good number (34.6%) have spent more than 5 years in the home. Culture, children perspectives and children occupation were the major factors agreed by the elderly influencing their utilization of the old people's homes. There were no statistically significant association between Sociodemographic variables (age, gender, ethnicity) of the respondents and the utilization of the home with 'p' = 0.501.Conclusion and recommendation: Even though the elderly had positive perception about the utilization of the old people's home but their children perspectives had altered their participation in the homes which outrightly affected their health status. The nurses should therefore ensure optimal health of the elderly to improve their participation in the home. Keywords: Utilization, Perception, Old People's Homes, Elderly