Abstract
This study explored the experiences of elderly persons who were admitted to geriatric intermediate care facilities. We determined their satisfactions and dissatisfactions with the facility and how they coped with their dissatisfactions. Participants were 31 elderly persons living three geriatric intermediate care facilities in Tokyo. Data were collected by participant observations and interviews. Participants were satisfied with good living conditions in the facility. On the other hand, they were dissatisfied when their physical needs were unmet, their lifestyles were disrupted, and they had unpleasant contact with others. The main means of coping with these dissatisfactions were giving up, avoiding situations that could lead to dissatisfaction, and trying to solve problems themselves rather than requiring the staff to do so. The reasons they used these 'passive' coping styles were considered to be that they did not think their dissatisfactions could be easily solved, they knew the stay would be short, and they downplayed dissatisfactions by focusing on the things that gave them satisfaction.
