Although entrepreneurs and investors are quickly entering the senior care industry as they see opportunities grow as the population rapidly ages, many claim that technology innovations alone will be the defining feature of what makes an older adult choose a particular housing option.
Resident engagement professionals know that engagement is so much more than just providing activities to occupy residents each day.
To overcome obstacles that prevent meaningful resident engagement, providers can start by providing activity professionals with the time, tools, and budget they need to succeed.
Last fall, Linked Senior collected information from activity directors across the country to determine what they love most about their work and what challenges they face day-to-day, especially when it comes to their ability to meaningfully engage the residents in their care. More than 300 people responded to the survey and shared some eye-opening insights:
These research findings build on a growing body of academic work that examines how therapeutic engagement can positively impact the health and well-being of older adults living with cognitive impairment, including Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
In senior care, activity directors are often underpaid, overworked, lacking respect from colleagues and asked to document their work each day using cumbersome paper-based strategies. A national Linked Senior survey of more than 300 activity directors uncovered that more than half of survey participants indicated that documentation is the most challenging part of their work…
Prioritizing engagement in a community means providing those whose job it is to lead those efforts with the time, tools, and budget they need to succeed.
Most older adults in the United States would prefer to live in their own homes and communities as they age.
Too often the senior care industry focuses on negative outcomes and the “clinical” part of the aging experience. Yet, there is much to be said about aging that is positive, and focusing on the benefits of growing old can increase the success of communities worldwide by making them more intergenerational and interdependent.
To move from providing only the most basic of needs (shelter, safety and physiological support), providers need to understand how optimizing their engagement strategy can move their residents up on Maslow’s pyramid.
