Delivering Person-Centered Care: Important Preferences for Recipients of Long-term Services and Supports.
Katherine M Abbott, Rachel Klumpp, Kendall A Leser and 3 others
PMID 29146223WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults in nursing homes and home care rated everyday choices as important, especially regular family and friend contact.
Staff should ask about eating, bathing, privacy, belongings, and who joins care discussions rather than assume routines.
Key findings
01Ten shared preferences were rated important by 75% or more of both nursing home and home-based care respondents, including family contact, eating choices, going outside, privacy, and bathing-time choices.
02Regular contact with family and friends was the only preference rated above 90% in both samples' top-10 lists.
03Nursing home residents' top preferences included staff respect, care for personal belongings, staff showing they care, emotional comfort, choosing who joins care discussions, room temperature, mouth care, choosing a medical care professional, and bathing frequency.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only respondents who could answer for themselves were included, so the study does not represent people with moderate or severe cognitive impairment or people unable to communicate. The nursing home sample came from a convenience sample of 28 facilities in one region, and the reported consent rate was 43.8%. The nursing home analysis used 255 respondents, after 321 were enrolled at baseline. The home-based and nursing home question versions used different stems and response scales, so exact comparison between settings is limited. The samples were from large East Coast metropolitan areas, so preferences may differ in other regions. Physical dependency and subjective well-being were not assessed, and lower well-being was associated with rating preferences as more important.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the top-10 preference lists as proof that acting on them improves patient outcomes. The study reports what respondents said was important, and the authors say individual preference assessments are still essential.