Expanding Our Understanding of the Assisted Living Experience

Assisted living has become a common form of community-based care for frail older persons, but research on the experience of assisted living has lagged behind this development. In this study we focused on assisted living residents' perceptions of their residences and their surrounding community in an effort to better understand the assisted living experience in the context of aging-in-place. Using questionnaires completed by residents in different geographical locations, two researchers coded responses to four open-ended questions. Reliability of coding results were supported with tetrachoric correlations and Kappa coefficients. The analyses offer both a confirmation and an expansion of current conceptualizations of assisted living. In particular, we suggest that assisted living helps overcome the tension between disengagement and place attachment, provides purposeful activities for residents that support well-being, and that staff play important roles in activities and the overall experience of aging-in-place in assisted living. (C) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.