Programs to Improve Quality of Life and Health: What Do Older Adults and Practitioners Think?

Saturday, November 5, 2022

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET

Location: 235 CC

CE: 1.5

Chair(s)

AR

Ashley Ritter, APRN, PhD

Director of Clinical Care Research
Research
NewCourtland
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Co-Chair(s)

Allen Glicksman, PhD

Embedded Scientist
Research
NewCourtland
Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States

Slides

Discussant(s)

RS

Robyn Stone, DrPH

Senior Vice President, Research
LeadingAge LTSS @UMass Boston
LeadingAge
Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Individual Symposium Abstract First Author(s)

BS

Brian Sweeny, PhD

Associate Professor of Sociology
Sociology
Long Island University
Brookville, New York, United States
Cassandra Dictus, MPH, RN

PhD Student
School of Nursing
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
MK

Miranda Kunkel, LMSW

Doctoral Student
Department of Sociology and Gerontology
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio, United States
Allen Glicksman, PhD

Embedded Scientist
Research
NewCourtland
Haverford, Pennsylvania, United States

Slides

Numerous programs and services are designed to help older adults improve their health and quality of life. Impact evaluations typically focus on health outcomes. Often, less attention is paid to the opinions of professionals tasked with administering these efforts or the older persons and caregivers about the need for the program or the way the program is administered. This panel addresses the question with four presentations, each of which uses data collected from practitioners and/or older adults to gain their perspectives on programs to help maintain quality of life and health. Sweeny examines the experience of older LTBTQ adults as they navigate the care and social service systems. Dictus and colleagues will describe a community level effort to develop a master plan for aging in one county. The method for including the views of the older adults in the process can be a model for other communities. Corpora and colleagues report on efforts to ensure that staff are aware of important preferences of nursing home residents, with a focus on the predictors of successful implementation. Glicksman and colleagues examine the impact of migration on the attitudes and perceptions of older Spanish speaking migrants toward the formal long-term care system. Finally, Stone will address the question of how these types of data can be used to help shape policy and practice, using research to help older adults and professionals at all levels to support older persons in community and facility care.

Learning Objectives:

After attending the session participants will understand the importance of gaining the perspectives of older adults and professional staff in evaluating the impact of programs and services.
After attending the session participants will better appreciate the importance of understanding diversity among older adults and how that diversity can affect interactions with the formal care system
After attending the session participants will be able to suggest ways to integrate older adult and staff perspectives in the development of new programs and services.

Presentations:

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET

Coming Out and Going Back In: Aging and Strategic Identity Disclosure Among LGBTQ Adults
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Brian Sweeny, PhD – Long Island University
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET

Engaging Older Adults and Stakeholders to Develop a Community Master Aging Plan: A Case Example
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Cassandra M. Dictus, MPH, RN – University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET

The Influence of Nursing Home Champions on the Implementation of a Person-Centered Quality Improvement Project
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Miranda C. Kunkel, LMSW – Miami University
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET

Past as Present: How Lived Experience Influences Interaction with LTSS Among Older Spanish Speakers
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Allen Glicksman, PhD – NewCourtland