title: A Typology of New Residents' Adjustment to Continuing Care Retirement Communities.
abstract: The study was designed to examine the diverse experiences of older adults upon their transition to continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs).
  
  
  
  As part of a larger qualitative study on CCRC residents and their adult children, the first wave of interviews with 59 CCRC residents located in 12 different CCRCs was analyzed. A line-by-line analysis was followed by constant comparisons within each interview and across interviews in order to identify commonalities and differences. Subsequent to the identification of major thematic categories, whole interviews were analyzed to identify unique response-patterns across interviews.
  
  
  
  Three major themes emerged: (a) continuity versus discontinuity in life experiences following the transition to the CCRC; (b) time-orientation (e.g., past, present, or future); and (c) place attachment (e.g., within the CCRC or in the larger community). These 3 themes distinguished among four different types of CCRC residents: "shades of gray," "still searching after all these years," "disapprover," and "I finally found it."
  
  
  
  The study offers a unique perspective on the adjustment process to CCRCs, by stressing the need to view qualitative differences in adjustment, rather than level of adjustment. Whereas CCRCs allow a segment of older adults to truly enjoy the opportunity for a new beginning in old age, for others, the transition does not pose a major change from past life experiences and is not viewed with the same level of enthusiasm.
authors.affiliation: Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel liat.ayalon@biu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Liat
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ayalon
authors.affiliation: Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Ohad
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Greed
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D016852:Housing for the Elderly; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012917:Social Adjustment
keywords: Adjustment; Continuing care retirement community; Institutional care; Long-term care; Older adults; Social support