This paper will present preliminary results of an ongoing research project focussing on life satisfaction and life quality in nursing homes for persons with the growing problem of dementia. The research project seeks to fulfil two tasks simultaneously: gathering basic empirical insights and also developing concepts and methods for research in this field. In order to achieve this, a multi-method approach is established through an interdisciplinary perspective. The project is carried out in cooperation between the Institute of Sociology, the Institute of Educational Science, and the Institute of Nursing Science at the University of Vienna, Austria. The common guiding questions are: 1) Which dimensions decisively influence life quality in nursing homes and which objective conditions could be changed to improve the situation of the home residents? 2) Which methods and instruments are better suitable for research into this topic? This paper will describe the approaches and methods used by the research team from the Institute of Educational Science and will particularly focus on interactions between nursing home residents and professional staff members. These interactions are regarded as crucial determinants of life quality. It is assumed that life quality substantially depends on how everyday situations are experienced and on the possibility that one’s own feelings, thoughts, and wishes are registered by others and considered during further interaction. Since relevant experiences can only be verbalised to a limited degree, nursing home residents will probably only be able to provide partial information on crucial aspects of their quotidian life quality. It is also assumed that nursing home employees only partially realize how nursing home residents experience everyday situations and how these experiences have an impact on the nursing home residents’ life quality. Based on these assumptions, a specific approach for conducting case studies will be presented, discussed, and illustrated with results from the empirical investigation.

Firstly, quotidian interactions between professional staff and nursing home residents are observed by using the method developed at the Tavistock Centre in London, UK. According to the Tavistock concept, a person is observed regularly within his or her life-world for one-hour sessions throughout an extended time-period. Subsequently, very descriptive reports are written; these reports are analysed in small groups under experienced guidance. The discussion explores how the observed person may have felt in the situation described and how his or her specific behaviour may be understood. Secondly, professional staff members are interviewed. They are asked to describe a previously observed interaction with a nursing home resident, their behaviour in this situation, the reasons for their behaviour (“practice governing moments”), and how they think that their behaviour influenced the resident’s experience and life quality. The interview will be compared to the analyses of the corresponding observation report. Furthermore, a modification of this method will be used in observing organizations. Along with analyses of the observations and the transcriptions of the interviews, research will be conducted on how latent processes in the different nursing homes may involve professional actions which are, in the long run, detrimental to the nursing home residents’ life quality.

Based on the case studies, conclusions will be drawn for further education and training of professional staff members in tnursing homes.