Annual Caregiving Conference: Engaging Caregivers in Evidence-Based Programs The conference explores successes and challenges in the dissemination of evidence-based programs to family and friend caregivers. Keynote speaker, Erin Long, MSW, Team Lead, Alzheimer's Disease Programs Initiative of the Administration for Community Living, discusses experiences with engaging caregivers in programs and services, along with marketing strategies. Presentations also highlight experiences of organizations engaging caregivers and delivering evidence-based programs, including strategies to overcome barriers that keep caregivers from enrolling in support programs, and lessons learned through their marketing efforts. Read more
Evaluating nursing home resident and staff experiences with a life story program Life story programs hold promise for improving person-centered care and relationships between nursing home residents and staff. A pilot life story intervention study in 16 nursing homes provided residents with complimentary biographical life story books and summaries, and staff with action plans to enhance care planning. Trained volunteers and program staff collected life stories, and researchers interviewed 170 residents at three points in time. Overall, residents had positive experiences with the program, but were less willing to share their books with others afterwards. They also experienced a decrease in depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-8 [PHQ-8]) over time. Surveys of 92 staff demonstrated increases over time in perceived importance of knowing residents’ life stories. Administrator/admissions staff found it conditionally feasible to incorporate the program into admission processes. Practice implications of life story work include opportunities to help staff learn more about residents they care for, improve person-centered care, and honor resident preferences in care planning. Read more
5 Tactics to Help Improve Your Home Health CAHPS Rating There’s a reason that positive customer reviews are very important to home health agencies—many households seeking in-home health care services rely on published accounts to guide them in selecting the agency they feel will be the best fit for their situation. Read more
Process and structure: Service satisfaction and recommendation in a community-based elderly meal service in Shanghai This study aims to examine elderly clients’ service satisfaction and service recommendation for community-based meal services in Shanghai by applying Donabedian’s (1988) quality-of-care framework. This study analyzed secondary data from randomly sampled elderly clients of a community-based meal program in the Jing’an District in Shanghai (N = 690). Findings identified that several structure and process factors were significantly related to respondents’ service satisfaction and service recommendation. Notably, these factors were not identical; we discussed the differences. This study adds evidence in urban China to advanced research on quality of care. Read more
Developing and Testing a Satisfaction Survey for Nursing Home Residents The Ohio Experience Input from consumers has become an important part of quality improvement in long-term care and for consumer decision-making. This paper documents the development of the Ohio Nursing Home Resident Satisfaction Survey (ONHRSS) through a partnership of state government, research, and industry experts. The instrument was tested and refined through two waves of data–a pretest phase and later with statewide data. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses with statewide data identified eight primary factors along with an underlying, secondary Global Satisfaction factor. Reliability of the domains ranged from .69 to .95. Recommendations for further refinement and testing of the instrument are discussed along with policy and practice implications. Read more
Resident Satisfaction with Independent Living Facilities in Continuing Care Retirement Communities Read more
Understanding Consumer Satisfaction in Continuing Care Retirement Communities This study focused on examining consumer satisfaction with the care and services provided to elders residing in continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). Telephone interviews were conducted with a total of 137 respondents residing in both Independent Living (IL) facilities and Assisted Living (AL) in eight different CCRCs. Of these, 116 were IL residents and 21 were AL residents. Nursing home residents were excluded because Ohio was implementing mandatory nursing home family and resident satisfaction surveys. Residents on average were, 83 years old, primarily Caucasian and the majority were widowed. Three-fourths of them were female and over half had some college or a college degree. In addition, 41 family members of the 137 residents were also interviewed. The family members were on average, 56 years old, Caucasian, and the majority were female children. Both residents and their family members said that the primary reason for choosing a particular CCRC was that it was close to family members. As to why residents had to move to a CCRC, both families and residents said that it was because of physical health problems of either the resident or his/her spouse. In fact, residents and families cited more similar than dissimilar answers regarding why they chose a particular CCRC, reasons for moving from the resident’s previous residence, and the importance of certain types of services, although the order of preferences differed slightly. Information from Administrators of all eight CCRCs was collected to examine the range of services that facilities offered and their price structure and these varied greatly between and within facilities. Monthly rent in the IL facilities ranged from $579.00 to $3,332. In the AL facilities, single occupancy monthly rent ranged from $2,040 to $5,710. Examining Satisfaction with Care and Services An instrument examining resident satisfaction care was tested for its reliability and validity. It proved to be a highly reliable and valid instrument that had six major domains/factors: Admission; Appearance of the Facility; Food and Dining Services; Maintenance of Facility; Management, and, Safety and Security. An underlying measure of Resident Overall Satisfaction was also identified comprising of 48 items that contained items from the above-mentioned six domains. A similar instrument was used to test family satisfaction with care and services. With respect to examining what predicted Resident Overall Satisfaction, a multiple regression was run and two areas proved to be significant predictors of Resident Overall Satisfaction: the positive nature of resident and staff interactions and the residents’ perception of what services are important to them. Similar analyses on Family Overall Satisfaction could not be conducted because of the small sample size of the family dataset (family n =41). An examination of the open-ended comments by the residents and families revealed that both had positive and negative comments to make. They complained of things like the physical design, the environment and its surroundings, management issues and meals and dining services. The topmost things that residents praised the CCRCs for were the freedom to live their own lifestyle, the pleasant and friendly atmosphere and feeling that they had a safety net. The topmost things that families praised were the surroundings and the environment (even though some criticized this), the positive interactions with staff and the services/conveniences. Implications for Practice The findings from the quantitative analyses and the comments suggest that understanding the consumer perspective is critical to providing appropriate services. We suggest that Administrators encourage positive interaction and communication between consumers and staff to provide care that is appropriate, considered important and enhances consumer satisfaction. Limitations of the Study The limitations of the study include the fact that it was conducted only in one State with a small sample of eight CCRCs. Further, more IL than AL residents were interviewed. The study needs to be replicated with a larger sample size, and in more states, with equal numbers of residents in IL, AL and nursing facilities to enhance the generalizability of the findings. Read more
Developing a Satisfaction Survey for Families of Ohio’s Nursing Home Residents Purpose: The purpose of this project was to develop a reliable and valid family satisfaction instrument for use in Ohio’s nursing homes. Design and Methods: Investigators worked with an advisory council to develop the survey. Purposive sampling techniques were largely used to select 12 small, medium, and large for-profit and proprietary facilities in one large county for the pretest. A total of 239 families who were ‘‘most involved’’ in their relative’s care completed an instrument with 97 satisfaction items. Results: Factor analyses identified nine factors that explained 59.44% of the variance in satisfaction. Investigator judgment modified some factors and developed scales. The scales had good internal reliability (a = .76 and above, except for one), test–retest reliability ranged from .49 to .88, and differences between families of short- and long-stay residents were in expected directions. A final instrument with 62 satisfaction and 17 background items was recommended for statewide implementation. Implications: Findings from the project can be used to further refine the instrument and protocols for use with larger populations in other states and by the federal government. Read more
