With the number of elderly persons needing long-term care expected to double to 14 million over the next two decades, assisted living has become the popular choice for housing or care. Assisted living represents a promising model of long-term care that blurs the sharp distinction between nursing homes and community-based care and reduces the gap between receiving long-term care in one's own home and in an ''institution.'' Assisted Living: Needs, Practices, and Policies in Residential Care for the Elderly examines the evolving field of residential care and focuses on national issues of regulation, reimbursement, and staffing. The book is based on a four-state study of assisted living facilities and describes the facilities, the persons residing in them and their needs, and how the services vary by facility. Because one-third to two-thirds of residents in assisted living facilities have cognitive impairment, special attention is devoted to dementia care. The book also focuses on how today's long-term health care environment evolved, and it examines the future direction and implications of assisted living. Assisted Living: Needs, Practices, and Policies in Residential Care for the Elderly brings together a group of nationally recognized experts to help define the types of residential care that should be encouraged and sets guidelines for selecting an appropriate type of facility.
Contents: Foreword, M. Powell Lawton Preface List of Contributors Introduction, Catherine Hawes Part I. Key Topics in Assisted Living 1. State Policy and Regulations, Robert L. Mollica 2. Residential Care/Assisted Living in the Changing Health Care Environment, Michael A. Nolin and Robert L. Mollica 3. Creating a Therapeutic Environment: Lessons from Northern European Models, Victor A. Regnier and Anne Copeland Scot t4. Staffing Problems and Strategies in Assisted Living, R. Tamara Hodlewsky 5. African American Use of Residential Care in North Carolina, Elizabeth J. Mutran, S. Sudha, Peter Reed, Manoj Menon, and Tejas Desai Part II. Diversity in Profile: Assisted Living in Four States 6. An Overview of the Collaborative Studies of Long-Term Care, Sheryl Zimmerman, Philip D. Sloane, J. Kevin Eckert, Verita Custis Buie, Joan F. Walsh, Gary Grove Koch, and J. Richard Hebel 7. Resident Characteristics, Leslie A. Morgan, Ann L. Gruber-Baldini, and Jay Magaziner 8. The Physical Environment, Philip D. Sloane and Sheryl Zimmerman 9. The Process of Care, Sheryl Zimmerman, J. Kevin Eckert, and Judith B. Wildfire 10. Aging in Place, Shulamit L. Bernard, Sheryl Zimmerman, and J. Kevin Eckert 11. Care for Persons with Dementia, Philip D. Sloane, Sheryl Zimmerman, and Marcia G. Ory 12. Economics and Financing, Sally C. Stearns and Leslie A. Morgan 13. Connectedness in Residential Care: A Qualitative Perspective, J. Kevin Eckert, Sheryl Zimmerman, and Leslie A. Morgan Part III. Future Directions in Assisted Living Emerging Issues in Residential Care/Assisted Living, Sheryl Zimmerman, Philip D. Sloane, and J. Kevin Eckert Index
""The most comprehensive study of RC/AL ever undertaken... Policy makers, educators, advocates, and service providers along the continuum of care for older adults will find this work impressive.""
