Quality of Life in Assisted Living Facilities: Viewpoints of Residents

Abstract

Assisted liv ing facil i ties are nonmedical, res i den tial set tings that pro vide hous ing, food ser vice, per sonal ser vices, and watch ful over sight to frail elders and other per sons with phys i cal and men tal dis abil i ties. This study pres ents results of research on res i dents' views of qual ity of life and is based on data from inter views with 55 res i dents in 17 assisted liv ing facil i ties in three subur ban coun ties in Geor gia. The authors iden ti fied 14 domains of qual ity based on the com bined val ues expressed by res i dents in inter view data. Domains included aspects spe cif i cally related to qual ity of care as well as com po nents of the broader con cept, qual ity of life, such as inde pendence and auton omy, social rela tion ships, and mean ing ful ways to spend time. A key to qual ity was an indi vid u al ized approach to care and good ness of fit between a per son's unique needs and the abil ity of a facil ity to meet them.

The benefit and burden of "ageing-in-place" in an aged care community

“…Such an approach is supported by this study, in which elements of quality of life were found to vary across sub-populations of residents. Ball et al 11 defined quality of life as, "the ability to enjoy life and feel that it has meaning" (p. 305).…”

“…Quality of life for older people is a concept that is extensively discussed in the literature, particularly as it relates to residential aged care. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Many attempts have been made to define quality of life. While there is no one consistent definition, there is agreement that it is multidimensional, has subjective and objective components and is often defined in domains.…”

Finding a useful conceptual basis for enhancing the quality of life of nursing home residents

“…Then the abstracts of the remaining 34 publications were checked to determine which of the frameworks clearly did not apply to the nursing home population in the broadest sense but to a specific selection, such as dementia patients, stroke patients or people with developmental disabilities. This led to the exclusion of 23, which left 11 publications of which the complete text was retrieved [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…Ball et al [7] interviewed residents and observed life in 17 assisted living facilities in order to conceptualise QOL in such facilities. They support the consensus of opinion that QOL is a multidimensional construct with both subjective and objective components.…”

Optimising nutrition in residential aged care: A narrative review

“…Although mealtimes are recognized as 'the highlight of the day' for many RAC residents (87) admission to RAC is known to come with challenges for residents including adjusting to specific meal times and choices, and dining companions and environments; and depending on RAC menus solely for their nutritional intake (88). It has been suggested that malnutrition may be caused iatrogenically by dietary accreditation standards that are either inadequate at meeting nutritional requirements of elderly residents (89) or extremely limited in offered choices related to menu selection (90,91). Therefore, to alleviate the issue of malnutrition in the RAC setting, there is increasing recognition for (a) revising existing menu guidelines to address nutritional requirements of elderly residents likely to have limited food intake (89); (b) accommodating residents' preferences based on cultural diversity and special dietary requirements (92); (c) improving mealtime choices and variety offered to residents (88).…”