Most residents of nursing homes have cogni­tive impairment, and the majority of those indi­viduals have dementia. Providing a supportive environment for people with moderate to severe dementia requires certain specialized design andintervention features. This need has resulted in the development of special care units in many nursing homes. Well-designed special care units for people with […]

Nursing homes vary a great deal in the amount and quality of care they provide. One useful way of evaluating them is by applying the competence — environmental press model. When applied to nurs­ing homes, the goal is to find the optimal level of environmental support for people who have rela­tively low levels of competence. […]

Financing Long-Term Care The current system of financing long-term care in the United States is in very serious trouble. The average cost of a private room is close to $80,000 per year (New York Life, 2007) and is by far the leading catastrophic health care expense. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2007) estimates […]

Who is the typical resident of a nursing home? She is over age 85, European American, recently admit­ted to a hospital, lives in a retirment home rather than being a homeowner, is congitively impaired, has problems with IADLs, is probably widowed or divorced, and has no siblings or children living nearby (Davis & Lapane, 2004). […]

Nursing homes house the largest number of older residents of long-term care facilities. They are gov­erned by state and federal regulations that establish minimum standards of care. Two levels of care in nursing homes are defined in U. S. federal regulations (Ebersole et al., 2004). Skilled nursing care consists of 24-hour care including skilled medical […]

LEARNING OBJECTIVES • What are the major types of nursing homes? • Who is most likely to live in nursing homes? • What are the key characteristics of nursing homes? • What are special care units? • How can a nursing home be a home? • How should people communicate with nursing home residents? • […]

Given that maintaining a sense of place, a home, is very important to older adults, it should not come as a surprise that they would prefer living options that help foster that desire. That is how the option of assisted living came into being (Scheidt & Schwarz, in press). Assisted living facilities are housing options […]

Congregate housing includes a range of living options. The most common form is an apartment complex of older adults that provides a level of sup­port, such as shared meals. Congregate housing is often the least expensive form of supported living for older adults, as the cost is typically subsidized by various government agencies and nonprofit […]

In some cases, older adults need more support than is possible with just home modification, but still do not need it on a full-time basis. For them, one pos­sible option may be adult day care. Adult day care is designed to provide support, companionship, and certain services during the day. This situation arises most often […]

The discussion of the competence-environmental press model earlier provided two options for people who experience difficulties dealing with the tasks of daily life. On the one hand, people can increase their competency in order to develop better or new skills for handling the tasks. For example, to remember better where you put your car keys, […]