Rating the importance of nursing home residents' quality of life.
OBJECTIVE
To assess how various stakeholders involved with nursing home care rate the importance of various quality-of-life (QoL) items for hypothetical residents with varying types of impairment.


METHODS
A community-based exploratory description of a convenience sample.


METHODS
Eleven nursing homes in Florida, New Jersey, and Minnesota.


METHODS
Samples of registered and licensed nurses (RNs and LPNs), certified nursing assistants (CNAs), activities personnel, social workers, physicians, residents, and family members.


METHODS
Using a magnitude estimation approach, 17 QoL items were rated in order of importance on each of three hypothetical types of nursing home residents.


RESULTS
Overall, there was little variation in the ratings for individual items. Ratings for persons with cognitive impairment were consistently lower. RNs'/LPNs' and CNAs' ratings were generally higher than the others, and physicians' ratings were generally lower. Residents' and families' ratings were generally lower than nurses' ratings.


CONCLUSIONS
All stakeholders considered QoL to be important and felt that it deserves more attention in practice and regulation. A summary QoL score need not be weighted. Respondents (who were not cognitively impaired) considered QoL less important for residents with cognitive impairment. Value differences between those involved in nursing home care deserve more exploration.
Kane
Robert L
RL
School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA. kanex001@umn.edu
Rockwood
Todd
T
Hyer
Kathryn
K
Desjardins
Karen
K
Brassard
Andrea
A
Gessert
Charles
C
Kane
Rosalie
R
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005431:Florida; D016330:Frail Elderly / Q000523:psychology*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008910:Minnesota; D009515:New Jersey; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000592:standards*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*