Perceptions of Older Residents and Their Adult Children Regarding Continuing Care Retirement Community Staff

Abstract

This study examined the perspectives of continuing care retirement community (CCRC) residents and their adult children regarding services provided by staff in the CCRC. The study is based on semistructured qualitative interviews with 49 residents and their 34 adult children from 11 CCRCs. Transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Three major themes emerged: (a) "Reliance on the CCRC staff," (b) "Dissatisfaction with the CCRC staff," and (c) "Disregard to the CCRC staff." Findings suggest that staff should maintain constant contact with all residents, including those who are not satisfied with staff's function and those who do not use staff services, to identify and respond to the residents' changing needs. Attention should be paid in meeting residents' physical needs prior to meeting their social and emotional needs, as these tend to be the most urgent.

From a Bird’s Eye View: Whole Social Networks in Adult Day Care Centers and Continuing Care Retirement Communities

“…Future research will benefit from examining other types of relationships, which could potentially be more meaningful for older adults. Moreover, when constructing the network, we focused solely on service users and failed to query older adults about staff members or family members, who potentially play an important role in their lives ( Ayalon, 2016a ; Shinan-Altman & Ayalon, 2018 ).…”