Using Resident Reports of Quality of Life to Distinguish Among Nursing Homes

TLDR

The study aggregated 10 domain QOL scores from resident interviews, adjusted for age, gender, ADL, cognition, and length of stay, and compared facility‑level patterns across 40 nursing homes. The analysis revealed that while resident factors largely explained QOL variance, facility characteristics such as ownership, private room percentage, and rural‑urban location had modest but significant effects, and that 28 residents per facility provide reliable domain scores.

Abstract

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