Assisted Living Through Research, Policy, and Practice : What's in the Name?

This book examines how well assisted living communities are fulfilling their original mission of providing both assistance and quality of life. It also explores current and emerging practices and policies that could enhance these communities’ ability to deliver on this dual promise.

Assisted living communities in the United States are diverse in part because they are regulated largely by states and much less at the federal level. The diversity is intended to be responsive to different resident preferences and needs, but recent studies and critique indicate that overall, assisted living may not be fully delivering on the dual objectives of "assistance" and "living."

The book addresses its main objective by reviewing and synthesizing academic and relevant grey literature research and information on various aspects of assisted living in the US, and presenting providers’ and consumers’ perspectives on each topic.

To address these issues, the book’s 10 chapters explore key topics central to the promise of assisted living. The authors examine how well these communities meet the needs of residents with dementia, individuals requiring mental and medical health services, and those in need of end-of-life care. They also consider broader concerns related to resident safety and quality of care. In addition, the authors examine how state regulations and workforce challenges influence the care provided in assisted living. Each chapter discusses the implications of current research, policy, and practice, and includes case studies or real-world examples whenever possible.

Through this comprehensive synthesis of current research and diverse sources, as well as original contributions from assisted living providers and consumers, readers will gain an understanding of the latest findings in the field, their policy and practice implications, and the issues to consider when choosing an assisted living community.

Assisted Living Through Research, Policy, and Practice is intended for researchers, policy makers, and operators of assisted living communities; it also is a useful textbook for graduate-level courses on long-term care and courses taught in health services research programs, schools of public health, programs for long-term care professionals, and healthcare management education. In addition, consumers wanting to better understand assisted living will benefit from the material in this book.

Helena Temkin-Greener is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, in New York, USA. She is also the founder and the director of the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) National Data Center (PDAC).  Her research is focused in the following areas: quality of care – developing outcome measures and assessing quality of care in community-based, hospital and long-term care settings; organizational performance – developing and validating measures of care process, teamwork, and patient safety; aging and long-term care – assessing the impact of individual and organizational risk factors on quality of care for vulnerable elderly, including disparities; palliative and end-of-life care – design, implementation and evaluation of interventions to improve care; and mental illness – understanding access to and quality of care for patients with mental health disorders and with dementia. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, PCORI, and other federal and private funders.

Sheryl Zimmerman is a University Distinguished Professor in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health; the Director of the national Center for Excellence in Assisted Living at the University of North Carolina (CEAL@UNC); and Co-Director of the Program on Aging, Chronic Illness, and Long-term Care in the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. She is internationally recognized as a leader in research related to care and outcomes for older adults receiving long-term care, including persons living with dementia, and most notably those residing in assisted living. In 1996 Zimmerman founded the Collaborative Studies of Long-Term Care, the largest ongoing national research consortium of thousands of long-term care settings across the country that have participated in almost 100 projects with continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and foundations. She has written five books and more than 450 peer-reviewed publications.