This article appeared in Aging Today, May/June 1997, copyright American Society
on Aging, 1997. It appeared in the newspaper's Research Today section, aupported
by a grant from the AARP Andrus Foundation.
Assisted Living May Improve on Cost But Not Satisfaction
Although monthly costs for nursing home residents are more than twice those of residents in assisted living facilities, the degree of life satisfaction for residents in both kinds of facilities does not seem to differ, according to a study conducted by Jeannette Franks, director of the University of Washington Retirement Center in Seattle. Franks received the American Society on Aging's 1997 Student Research Award for her research paper titled, "Residents in Long-Term Care: A Case-Controlled Study of Cost and Quality of Life in Nursing Homes and Assisted Living in Washington State."
"Long-term care is not only about how we live, it is also about how we die," Franks wrote. "The quality and cost of the end of people's lives in a facility specifically designed for those who are so frail or disabled they cannot live alone is a continuing concern."
INSPIRED BY GRANDFATHER
Franks' interest in aging and long-term care goes back to her grandfather's death in a nursing home in 1981. In contrast to some of the sensationalistic reports about nursing homes she had seen at that time, she felt her grandfather and family were treated with kindness and compassion.
Today, frail elders have more options for their long-term care, such as assisted living, which offers a less institutional, more home-like setting than nursing homes generally provide. Franks decided to compare them and collected data on 43 pairs of long-term care residents aged 65 or older, matching individuals of similar functional ability from 10 nursing homes and 10 assisted living facilities in western Washington state.
While nursing home residents did not significantly differ from assisted living residents in their responses to a life satisfaction questionnaire, Franks found that the former incurred average monthly costs of $3,649, more than double the costs of the latter group, who paid a monthly average of $1,696.
Receiving an honorable mention was Terri Lynn Horowitz, of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pa., for "Predictors of Psychotherapy Refusal and Dropout in the Frail Elderly." She examined why many elders do not receive mental health services in nursing homes and congregate apartment sites for elders, where transportation and other practical barriers to accessing services are not factors. She found that the type of residence and the gender of the therapist were significant predictors of who receives care and who does not.
Also given an honorable mention was Anne Kisor, of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va., for "Measuring Consumer Attitudes Toward Cost Sharing for Older Americans Act (oaa) Programs." She examined the circumstances under which elders might pay fees to access senior centers, meals and other oaa programs and found key factors to be: perceived good value; a stigma attached to receiving services for free; and a feeling that paying for a service rested with the individual, not the government.