The Salience of Social Relationships for Resident Well-Being in Assisted Living

OBJECTIVES: We examined how organizational characteristics, transition experiences, and social relationships impact three subjective measures of well-being among assisted living residents: life satisfaction, quality of life, and perception that assisted living feels like home. METHODS: Data were from 384 assisted living residents interviewed for the Florida Study of Assisted Living. Using ordinary least squares and logistic regression we estimated associations between resident well-being and organizational characteristics, transition experiences, and social relationships, controlling for gender, age, education, and physical functioning. RESULTS: To varying degrees depending on the measure used, higher resident well-being was associated with facility size, facility acceptance of payment from Florida's low income program, and resident perceptions of adequate privacy. Non-kin room sharing reduced life satisfaction, whereas food quality positively affected all measures of well-being. The most consistent findings concerned internal social relationships. Residents with high scores on internal social relationship measures reported more positive well-being across all measures than residents with low scores on the same measures. DISCUSSION: Individuals have the capacity to form new support networks following a move to assisted living, and relationships formed become more salient to their well-being than the continuation of past relationships or the physical characteristics of the immediate surroundings.