Psychosocial needs and care in nursing homes: comparison of views of social workers and home administrators.

Nursing home social workers (n = 152) and administrators (n = 231) were asked to rate the relative importance of resident and family psychosocial needs and the frequency of functions performed by or expected to be performed by social workers to meet these needs. Overall, administrators rated 19 of 28 psychosocial needs higher in importance than did social workers. The two groups both rated as very important the needs of support during the transition to the nursing home, help in dealing with loss, and help with relatedness and intimacy issues, though the groups rated high-frequency functions somewhat differently.