Nursing Homes and Assisted Livings for Elderly Research Paper

Nursing Homes and Assisted Livings for Elderly - Research Paper Example Long-term care facilities are group-housing environments that provide services for those who lack some capacity for self-care. There are many different LTC facility types (e.g., assisted living, residential care, adult foster care, nursing homes), established and operated according to federal, state, and local regulations and licensing requirements (Dobbs, 2004). The dominant feature of all LTC facility types is arguably the level of care provided. The facility license stipulates the level of care allowed and the training and experience requirements for staff. Unfortunately, care levels are not classified according to the same system for each type of facility making it difficult to directly compare facility types. For example, nursing homes are licensed to provide skilled and/or intermediate care, terms established in federal regulations (Dobbs, 2004). Skilled care is a level of care that requires services that can only be performed safely by a licensed nurse whereas intermediate care is health-related care and services that do not necessarily require licensed practitioners. In contrast, assisted living, residential care, and adult foster care are licensed under state regulations based on the activities of daily living requirements (ADLs) of individuals. The ADLs measure individuals' physical, cognitive, and behavioral functioning. A common A DL measure is whether the individual is "independent," "dependent," or "needs assistance" with bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, continence, and eating. Arguably, the most important factor to influence both the older individuals' relocation to a LTC facility and the type of LTC facility chosen is the level of care needed, that is, the individuals' physical and functional limitations and degree of cognitive impairment. Other factors include financial status, availability of supportive family and friends, and regional case management practices. The four facility types are described below. Assisted Living Facilities Assisted living facilities (ALFs) are one of the newest living arrangements for elders, designed around a social rather than a medical model of care. In many ways, the function of assisted living is fairly clear: it is a congregate housing alternative for seniors who are unable to live independently, but who do not require the intensive skilled nursing services av ailable in nursing homes. As the

Exploring Qualitative Problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Exploring Qualitative Problems - Essay Example This may be due to them holding down a full time job, or their personal commitments that do not allow them to travel to school. Some students may be ill or may not be in a position to move out of their present residence to be able to attend college. Distance education schools provide such student with the chance to study and add to their knowledge and expertise without attending daily classes. These courses may be run via the internet by publishing lectures, by sending course material and receiving physical or electronic assignments from students or by using podcasts and interactive sessions on occasion. Many schools combine a number of methods in order to provide the best possible learning experience to their students. But often, this experience does fall quite short of the benchmark set by regular courses. This is often attributed to the reduced stimulation received by students taking distance education courses. Thus, a large body of research has been attempting to understand and a ddress this concern over the last few years. Research Addressing Quality Enhancement In a study by De Smet, Van Keer, and  Valcke (2008), the interactions amongst fourth year students who were trained to be peer tutors and freshmen were analyzed using content analysis (Shank, 2006; Bogdan, & Biklen; 2007). The study attempted to evaluate the kind of interactions and the topics covered by tutors and the support strategies provided by them in asynchronous discussion conditions. The authors evaluated the discussion threads and collected data by identifying the type of discussions and the points of change in topics. It was found that the importance of tutors was constant throughout. The discussions among participants and the strategies used by the tutors varied as per the discussion themes; but did not evolve to higher levels of conversation. The study also used cluster analysis to identify the types of tutors; and found three styles - motivators’, ‘informers’ and ‘knowledge constructors’. This was taken as more proof for the importance of tutors. While content analysis of conversation amongst peer tutors and the students has provided valuable information on this study (Bogdan, & Biklen; 2007); it would have been more valuable if some professional tutors were also to interact with students. The value and need of tutors is dependent on the students’ need to gain information that may not be otherwise accessible. Professional tutors may handle discussions differently from peers, and these differences may help us identify the kind of inputs that help distance education participants’ gain more knowledge and skills from their courses. The content analysis also gives us the type of interaction and the styles of interaction used to approach a given problem. This is a truly valuable technique in this case, as it helps us identify the structure of conversation that best helps in student development in a given topic. Another s tudy published by Menchaca and Bekele in 2008 provides an understanding of the elements that contribute to making distance education a success. The researchers wanted to identify the strategies and the tools that helped both instructors and students to succeed in online courses. To this end, they collected data from students, instructors and administrators over a long period and applied a qualitative method for constant comparative analysis