Autonomy among physically frail older people in nursing home settings: a study protocol for an intervention study.

This article explores the concept of autonomy in long term care, recognizing that autonomy is essential to promote health and well-being for all age groups. Perceived lack of control has been found to be detrimental to physical and mental health. There is a lack of evidence-based knowledge elucidating how frail older people in nursing home settings themselves perceive autonomy in daily life. Further, there are no studies on the extent to which this perception can be influenced positively by participating in an individually tailored programme based on residents' own wishes for daily activities. This study is designed to assess the status of perceived autonomy at baseline and to provide information about the effectiveness of individually tailored programmes according to perceptions of autonomy registered in institutionalised physically frail older people.