Using resident reports of quality of life to distinguish among nursing homes.
OBJECTIVE
We used measures created to assess the quality of life (QOL) of nursing home residents to distinguish among nursing facilities.


METHODS
We statistically adjusted scores for 10 QOL domains derived from standardized interviews with nursing home residents for age, gender, activities of daily living functioning, cognitive functioning, and length of stay, and then we aggregated them to the facility level. We compared the patterns across a sample of 40 facilities. We correlated facility characteristics with QOL scores.


RESULTS
The pattern of QOL scores for each of the 10 domains was generally consistent within a given facility. Although resident characteristics played a major role in explaining variance, there were significant effects of facilities as well. Some modest relationships were found between facility characteristics such as ownership, percentage of private rooms, and rural-urban location and facility QOL scores. No effect of facility size was detected.


CONCLUSIONS
This article shows that it is possible to differentiate among facilities on the basis of resident self-reported QOL. On the basis of our analysis, we find that a sample of 28 residents per facility is sufficient to generate a reliable QOL score for each of the domains studied.
Kane
Robert L
RL
Division of Health Services Research and Policy, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis 55455, USA. kanex001@umn.edu
Bershadsky
Boris
B
Kane
Rosalie A
RA
Degenholtz
Howard H
HH
Liu
Jiexin Jason
JJ
Giles
Katherine
K
Kling
Kristen C
KC
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000592:standards*; D010358:Patient Participation; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D014481:United States