By Steve Syre
An LTSS Center study highlights the importance of helping older adults transition to a new housing community.
Moving anywhere can be a big transition. That certainly applies to older adults who leave their homes for a service-enhanced community, and some new residents face bigger changes than others.
That transition process may have a significant impact on the longer-term satisfaction of residents, according to Marc Cohen, co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston.
“First impressions are really important,” said Cohen. “People’s views get fixed.”
A CLOSER LOOK AT 2 COMMUNITIES
Cohen and Erin McGaffigan, a LTSS Center research fellow, conducted a study for B’nai B’rith Housing (BBH) that examined why 2 of its service-enriched communities for older adults experienced significantly different turnover rates. Issues that arose as people transitioned into the community may have been a factor.
The recently completed project examined activity at Covenant House, a long-established affordable housing community with 242 apartments in Boston, and Coolidge at Sudbury, a suburban, 64-unit community that opened in 2014. Turnover rates have been higher than expected at Coolidge.
A CONTRAST IN RESIDENT PROFILES
BBH asked the LTSS Center to look at how residents of the 2 housing communities differ in backgrounds, needs, and expectations. In response to that request, the LTSS Center developed and distributed a survey designed to gather the following information from residents at both communities:
• Socio-demographic details, such as age, gender, marital status, and income of residents.
• Health data, including details about activities of daily living and perceived health status.
• Involvement and interest in a variety of community programs.
• Opinions about the strengths, weaknesses of those community programs, and ways to improve them.
• Information about residents’ social networks and community ties.
• Views on social isolation and loneliness.
• Thoughts on ways to improve the living environment.
BBH was well aware that residents living in Covenant House and Coolidge were significantly different in many ways. The survey results provided details about those differences.
For example, residents at the suburban Coolidge community were younger and rated their overall health more highly than Covenant House residents. The average total income of Coolidge residents was more than twice that of residents at the urban Covenant House.
Many people came to the 2 communities from different settings. About 1 in every 5 Coolidge residents owned their own single-family home before moving, compared with fewer than 5% of Covenant House residents. On the other hand, 35% of Covenant House residents came from residential settings where they lived with friends or relatives, compared with only 12% of residents living at Coolidge.
SETTLED OR CONSIDERING ANOTHER MOVE?
More than 90% of residents at each location rated their community as either “good” or “excellent.” But 17% of Coolidge residents reported that they planned to move out in the future, compared with only 4% of residents at Covenant House.
Residents who said they would leave Covenant House in the future cited a variety of reasons, although several pointed to family considerations.
“People who were moving into Coolidge seemed to have experienced a much bigger adjustment,” said Cohen. “Some did not fully understand the implications of living next to people in such close proximity or of interacting with people who may be in somewhat poorer health.”
Cohen said some residents felt their transition and ongoing living experience would be enhanced by more regular meetings or open forums with building staff to discuss concerns, issues, and upcoming changes. Some residents also suggested that better communication—at different times of the day and with different groups of residents—would be worthwhile.
“It’s a challenge for anyone to get settled in a new community,” said Cohen. “Helping older adults make that early transition in enhanced-services communities can make an important difference.”