Researchers Develop Questionnaires to Evaluate Person-Centered Care in Assisted Living

Assisted living providers can measure how person-centered their facilities are by using new, freely available questionnaires created by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Center for Excellence in Assisted Living.

Two questionnaires are available — one for residents, and one for staff. Each questionnaire takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.

The questionnaires are part of a “toolkit” (pdf) that briefly explains the questions and shows how responses should be scored and interpreted.

In a press release, UNC’s Sheryl Zimmerman, a co-author of the toolkit, said, “Everyone involved in assisted living — residents, family members, staff, organizational members — wants care to be individualized, but there hasn’t been a way to measure these practices and identify areas that are either especially strong or need improvement. Now there is.”