Towards Changing the Long Term Care (LTC) Paradigm: Explicating the Concept of Thriving in Older Adults Living in LTC

A phenomenon of interest for nursing is the facilitation of humanistic health care experiences and quality of life (Willis, Grace, & Roy, 2008 ). Inquiry into the concept of thriving as it manifests in the older adult residing in long-term care aligns with this interest. Thriving has been described by scholars in various disciplines but no context-specific definition for the LTC resident currently exists. Contrary to the generally held negative view of LTC, there is emerging evidence that older adult LTC residents "do well" or thrive in this environment.