INDEPENDENCE AND AUTONOMY OF ELDERS IN ASSISTED LIVING

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DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Applicant's Abstract): The main goal of this project is to discover how independence and autonomy can be integrated into the ALF environment in ways that respect the cultural values, beliefs, and practices of all residents. The specific aims of this study are: 1) to gain understanding of how independence and autonomy are socially constructed and perceived in the assisted living environment; 2) to gain understanding of how individual, sociocultural, and environmental factors influence the meanings of, and opportunities for, independence and autonomy in assisted living facilities; 3) to identify strategies of residents, providers, and family members that enable residents to optimize independence and autonomy in the ALF environment; 4) to gain understanding of how individual, sociocultural, and environmental factors influence strategies of residents, providers, and family members to support independence and autonomy in ALFs; 5) to identify the social and individual barriers to residents' independence and autonomy in ALFs; and 6) to identify the physical environmental barriers to residents' independence and autonomy in ALFs. The sample of five assisted living facilities in and around metro Atlanta will be selected to represent maximum variation in size, type, and location of facility and ethnicity and socioeconomic status of residents to include: 1) two urban congregate homes serving moderate-to-high-income residents, one with around 70 mostly Caucasian residents and one with around 50 mostly African American residents; 2) one congregate home in a small-town setting with a mixture of approximately 36 African American and Caucasian residents with low-to-moderate incomes; and 3) two family model homes (4-6 residents), one in a rural area with Caucasian residents, and one in a small town with Caucasian and African American residents Qualitative methodology will be employed to identify and describe the intensity and range of daily experiences, activities, decisions, perceptions, and formal and informal interactions as they occur within assisted living facilities. The primary methods of data collection will be participant observation, intensive interviewing of residents, their families and friends, and staff, inventory of the environment, and review of resident and facility records and marketing materials. Data will be analyzed using the grounded theory method.