Leadership Perceptions and Practices of Hospitality in Senior Care.

Senior care providers are increasingly focused on hospitality to distinguish themselves from competitors. A mixed-methods approach was used to examine perceptions of hospitality from leadership (i.e., administrators of nursing homes and assisted living facilities) and use of hospitality practices across settings and lines of service. Results indicated that hospitality practices readily exist in senior care settings (i.e., nursing homes, assisted living facilities), but may be referred to by names other than hospitality. There also appear to be more similarities than differences in practices across long-term care service lines (i.e., short- and long-stay nursing home residents, assisted living), suggesting that, regardless of provider type, hospitality in senior care is becoming part of the expected culture and cadre of services for residents. Overall, findings suggest hospitality practices are related to providers' census, payer mix, and organizational performance.

Qualitative analyses of nursing home residents' quality of life from multiple stakeholders' perspectives.

PURPOSE: Quality of life has been defined in various ways by nursing home stakeholders over the years. As such, analyzing the levels of agreement or disagreement among these stakeholders to ascertain if staff and leadership align with resident-identified factors for "good" quality of life has become important to include in the literature. This study sought to identify contributory factors to resident quality of life, as well as analyze areas of commonality in qualitative responses. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted at 46 Midwestern nursing homes, with residents (n = 138), nursing assistants (n = 138), social workers (n = 46), activities directors (n = 46), and administrators (n = 46), on whether each stakeholder felt residents had a good quality of life and the factors contributing to resident quality of life. RESULTS: Overall, the majority of residents perceived their quality of life as "good," though differences were noted in their main contributing factors when compared to staff members' and management's perspectives. Findings also demonstrated that nursing assistants most closely aligned with resident perspectives. CONCLUSIONS: Given the implications of resident satisfaction with quality of life on multiple facets of a nursing home (e.g., survey process, financial reimbursement), it remains ever critical for management to engage residents and to truly listen to resident perspectives to enhance and ensure an optimal quality of life.

Analyses of Complaints, Investigations of Allegations, and Deficiency Citations in United States Nursing Homes.

Quality of care in nursing homes has been evaluated from varying perspectives, but few studies analyze complaints made to surveyors. This study analyzed complaints, investigations, and citations for nursing homes nationwide. Using the complaint and survey data sets, analyses match nursing home complaints with findings of investigations conducted. Results showed the average complaint rate was 13.3 complaints per 100 residents and that 43.2% of complaint allegations were substantiated, with complaints about care and services provided being the most prevalent. Variability was noted among the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regions and, on average, 47.5% of facilities had five or more complaints in a given year. While additional research could evaluate the effect of complaint investigations on nursing home quality, results indicated that complaints and subsequent investigations provide further information regarding quality for residents. Results also suggest improvements in the training for surveyors and more consistency across Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services survey regions.

Does Self-Efficacy Affect Responsiveness to Cognitive Speed of Processing Training?

OBJECTIVE: Older adults with higher self-efficacy may be more likely to benefit from some cognitive training approaches. We examined whether self-efficacy serves as a mediator or moderator of responsiveness to cognitive speed of processing training (SOPT). METHOD: We used data from the Staying Keen in Later Life (SKILL) study (N = 128) and the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) study (N = 1,400). Both studies assessed cognitive speed of processing (Useful Field of View Test-UFOV) and self-efficacy among community-dwelling older adults who were either randomized to SOPT or control conditions. We constructed regression models examining self-efficacy as a predictor of training responsiveness. RESULTS: Analyses from both studies indicated that participants' self-efficacy scores were not predictive of training gains from SOPT, as measured by UFOV performance. DISCUSSION: Self-efficacy does not affect older adults' ability to benefit from cognitive SOPT.