By Geralyn Magan
The housing-based service model features a service coordinator, wellness nurse, and community health worker.
The LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston will spend the next three years evaluating implementation of “Aging with Options,” a new housing-based service model developed by Volunteers of America National Services (VOANS) that is being piloted at Harborview, a New Jersey affordable senior housing community serving more than 100 older adults.
Aging with Options was inspired by the Integrated Wellness in Supportive Housing (IWISH) program, a housing-based service model that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) implemented and tested in 40 housing communities beginning in 2017. The LTSS Center served on the IWISH implementation team.
The pilot and evaluation are supported by Parker Health Group, a nonprofit New Jersey-based aging services organization with over 100 years of experience that is committed to empowering older Americans.
ABOUT AGING WITH OPTIONS
Aging with Options adds a full-time community health worker (CHW) and a part-time wellness nurse to Harborview’s existing service coordination program. The CHW, who is trained in public health, will serve as a health advocate for at-risk residents. The wellness nurse will provide health education and coaching to residents, offer basic health and vital signs monitoring, help residents work effectively with their healthcare providers, host group activities, and assist with returns from hospitals or nursing homes.
Services that the onsite team provides to participating residents will be supplemented by technology tools—including voice-activated smart speakers and tablets—that residents can use to help manage their health and support their social well-being.
Finally, resident health ambassadors will offer peer-to-peer support. Those ambassadors will help motivate residents to engage in the program and to manage their health and wellness. Ambassadors will also support resident technology use.
EVALUATING THE PROGRAM
The LTSS Center will conduct both a process evaluation and an outcome evaluation of the Aging with Options pilot over the next three years.
The process evaluation will examine the implementation of Aging with Options and will identify program elements that work successfully and elements that may need to be adapted to improve program operations and outcomes and support program replication in other housing communities. Areas to be examined could include:
- Staffing.
- Training.
- Communication.
- Data collection tools.
- Services and programming.
- Partnerships.
- Resident engagement.
- Use of technology.
An outcome evaluation will examine the pilot program’s success in achieving VOANS’ desired goals of improving resident health and well-being and reducing social isolation. The LTSS Center will analyze self-reported resident data that the onsite team collects during annual assessments as well as data from other program activities.
Researchers will examine data over the three-year period to ascertain how the program has addressed indicators such as health care use, medication management, falls risk, loneliness, and resident confidence in their ability to manage their health. Researchers will also conduct interviews and focus groups to ascertain how residents think the Aging with Options program has benefitted them.
ADDING TO THE KNOWLEDGE BASE
Alisha Sanders, senior director of housing and services research at the LTSS Center, will lead the evaluation, which she believes will add to the knowledge base about housing-based service models that the LTSS Center has been building for more than a decade.
“I’m particularly excited to learn more about the potential role that community health workers can play in housing settings, how those staff members can be utilized, how they can be integrated into the on-site team, and how they will work with residents on a daily basis,” she says.
Sanders is also looking forward to learning more about the role wellness nurses can play in housing communities, how peer support from resident health ambassadors can be operationalized, and how technology can serve as a health management tool.
“We are very interested in finding out whether and how residents use the technology, how it helps them, and what challenges or barriers they face while using it,” she says. “We don’t have a lot of knowledge about technology use by residents in affordable housing properties.”
FINAL REPORT
The Aging with Options evaluation is expected to be completed in March 2024. A final report, released at that time, will discuss the pilot’s key implementation components and processes, highlight issues relevant to replication of a similar housing-based service model, and describe the pilot’s impact on desired outcomes.