The Impact of Relocation Stress on Cognitively Impaired and Cognitively Unimpaired Long-term Care Residents

The current aims were to explore the effects of relocation stress on depression and anxiety in long-term care residents and to investigate the moderating effect of cognitive status. The study used existing data from nursing home and congregate apartment residents. Self-reported measures of relocation stress, cognitive status, depression, and anxiety were examined. Exploratory analyses examined group differences in depression and anxiety within the full sample ( = 568) and the sample of first-year residents ( = 347). Main analyses were conducted in a subsample of 107 first-year residents who completed the measure of relocation stress. Residents who had moved in the past year reported more anxiety but not depression than longer-term residents. Relocation stress significantly predicted depression but not anxiety in the subsample of first-year residents. There was no significant effect of cognitive status or the interaction of cognitive status and relocation stress on depression and anxiety. Findings suggest that cognitively impaired older adults are no more vulnerable to the negative effects of relocation stress than cognitively unimpaired older adults. Relocation stress should be regarded as a risk factor for depression in long-term care residents, regardless of cognitive status, in the first year after relocation.