[Life experiences and differential aspects of the social relations of the aged in facilities for the aged. Empirical findings from 3 Hamburg facilities].

In the beginning it is illustrated that there is a number of problems in the different fields of open care and work with institutionalized old people which could be better solved or reduced by an integrative approach. It is the goal of this report to make evident that there are wrong attitudes towards living in institutions which are - besides other barriers - hindering for the realization of such an integrative approach. After a view over the organization-structure and the supply offered by the institutions, the average-home-inhabitants are presented - from a cybernetical point of view - as "open systems" who take part in an exchange of "input" and "output" and who are able to realize more or less wide life experiences. There are significant differences between the institutions with regard to the conception and the organization-structure of the homes. The social contacts-distinguished between different patterns of contact, contact partners and inside/outside-orientation of the social contacts - are analysed and presented in their differential relations to the life satisfaction measures. The relative close correlation between different patterns of collective contacts and the measures of life satisfaction are especially interesting, because from these findings practical consequences for the organization of home-life and for the counseling of old people in the choice between the alternative offers of help can be deducted.