An Ecological Framework to Support Small-Scale Shared Housing for Persons with Neurocognitive Disorders of the Alzheimer's and Related Types: A Literature Review.
Kevin N Bortnick
PMID 30186070WHAT IT FOUND
Small-scale shared housing often showed better quality of life, daily activity, social engagement, and less physical restraint use than traditional long-term care.
Cognitive results were mixed, and no study proved the housing model works better.
Key findings
01The review found a tendency toward better quality of life, social engagement, and daily activity in small-scale shared housing, but no included study showed definitive superiority over traditional long-term care.
02Residents in small-scale shared housing had less physical restraint use than residents in traditional long-term care, while psychotropic drug use was not consistently different.
03Cognitive outcomes were mixed: some studies showed better test scores, while others found no clear difference.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The authors describe this as a literature review, not a systematic review, and they note that a systematic review would be more comprehensive. Only one study specific to the United States was included. Many included studies were observational or quasi-experimental, so they cannot prove that shared housing caused the differences. Quality of life can be hard to assess accurately in people with neurocognitive disorders because self-report depends on memory and awareness. Cognitive results were not consistent across studies.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that small-scale shared housing is proven to improve outcomes. The review found a tendency toward better performance, but none of the studies showed definitive superiority over traditional long-term care.