DECISION AS PROCESS - A CONCEPTUAL-MODEL OF BLACK ELDERS NURSING-HOME PLACEMENT

This processual decision-making model emerged from qualitative interviews with 10 African American nursing home residents about their placement decisions. Case descriptions are used to illustrate the model. The model is presented as an organizing framework for exploring placement decisions on a largr scale and with different populations. Although there is little about the model that appears to be specific to African Americans, the model lends itself to exploring differences between African American and other elders in their decision-making process. The decision to institutionalize revealed itself as a complex process involving multiple actors, multiple decisions, distinct phases, variable modes of interaction between the actors, and variable outcomes that are provisional and may change over time.