(P34) Quality of Interactions Across Various Care Tasks in Assisted Living

Introduction/Objective: The quality of care interactions plays a key role in resident quality of life and psychological well-being among assisted living (AL) residents. Care interactions are influenced by resident characteristics and community characteristics. Limited research has examined how quality of care interactions may differ between various care tasks. Given that AL residents often require staff assistance in performing activities of daily living (e.g., bathing or dressing) or instrumental activities of daily living (e.g., managing medication), it is critical to assess disparities in the quality of care interactions that residents receive. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to test if there were differences in quality of care interactions by care task type in AL settings. Specifically, it was hypothesized that care interactions would be more negative during bathing/dressing compared to other care tasks.

Design/Methodology : The data for this analysis was from an observational, cross-sectional study conducted in four AL facilities in Maryland. Any direct care provision was eligible for care observation (e.g., bathing, dressing, mealtime, medication administration). Any staff and/or resident could be observed more than once. A total of 152 staff-resident care interactions were observed. The Modified Quality of Interaction Scale was used to measure quality of care interactions and interaction characteristics (e.g., care task occurring). Descriptive statistics were conducted to describe the sample. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post hoc Tukey HSD was conducted to assess differences in the quality of care interaction by care task type. A p < .05 level of significance was used for all analyses.

Results: The majority of interactions were positive care (n=83, 36%), included passive resident engagement (n=75, 49%), and occurred during feeding/eating (n=37, 24%). There was not a significant difference in the quality of care interactions by care task type (F(6,145) = 1.75, p = .114).

Conclusion/Discussion : The findings indicate that the quality of care interactions did not differ across care tasks, suggesting that AL staff are consistent in their interactions with residents. The lack of significant differences may be due to small group sizes. Future research should investigate whether care interaction quality varies by task type, using larger samples with greater diversity. This study’s generalizability is limited as it was conducted in four AL communities within a single state. Despite these limitations, it provides valuable insights into the relationship between quality of care interactions and care task type, which can inform training curricula for AL direct care workers focused on positive communication strategies. Future work should aim to enhance care interactions in AL, as improving these interactions is vital for residents' quality of life.