The thesis belongs to the project called Eheä Elämän Ehtoo, and we got the interviewees via our partner in cooperation, Caritas Foundation.

The purposes of the thesis were to describe elderly people’s experiences of the resources that supported their mental health and to get knowledge on the factors that influenced resources in their present lives. The aim of thesis was to provide information to support the mental health and functional ability of elderly people.

This study was qualitative. The data was collected by using theme interviews as a method. Five elderly people over 75 years old were interviewed. The interviewees were the customers of Caritas House. The interviews were content analyzed.

The findings showed that elderly peoples’ moods alternated between positive mood and despair. The elderly thought that social interaction, hobbies, purposeful and safe home, health and capability to control over their body were the resources in the elderly people’s present lives. The aged mentioned that weakening of cognitive ability, weakening of the health and physical functions, loneliness and the difficulties of social relationships were the issues reducing the resources. Social support, availability of services, capability of solving problems, good self-esteem, meaningfulness of life and responsibil-ity for nearest relatives were found as the issues maintaining the resources.

The results provide information for nursing professionals that they can use to support the mental health and functional ability of elderly people. In future it would be necessary to examine what kind of support the elderly need from the nursing personnel to maintain their resources.