'I don't have any other choice': spouses' experiences of placing a partnerin a care home for older people in Sweden

The main aim of this paper is to consider the experiences of Swedish spouse s who have placed a partner in a care home for older people. Data were gath ered from semi-structural interviews with 14 spouses (11 wives and 3 husban ds) who had been involved in a care home placement within the previous 6 mo nths. The results reported here are from the first component of a larger gr ounded theory study, the aim of which is to explore, describe and understan d the experience of care home placement from a variety of perspectives and to identify the implications for policy and practice in Sweden. The focus h ere is on the experience of spouses, relating to the decision-making proces s, the move into care and subsequent contact with the care home. Four theme s emerged from the data - making the decision, making the move, adjusting t o the move and reorientation. The results show a lack of planning for the e lder person's entry to a care home, and professional dominance of this stag e of the process. The largely ambivalent emotional responses to the move th at spouses experience and the difficulties in initiating and sustaining rel ationships with staff in the home are discussed in the light of previous re search.