# Meaningful Engagement and Quality of Life among Assisted Living Residents with Dementia.

> **NIH NIH R01** · GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $138,905

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Assisted living (AL), one of the fastest growing long-term care option in the US, has a resident profile that
increasingly resembles that of the nursing home population. Most AL residents are advanced in age and need
assistance with multiple activities of daily living and dementia rates are high, raising concerns about residents’
vulnerabilities. Administrators, care workers, residents, family members, and external workers in these largely
non-medical care setting routinely encounter ethical dilemmas surrounding care, including in the context of
dementia and at end-of-life, often without recognizing them as value conflicts and without awareness of
resolution options. Although value-laden issues associated with daily life and care have potentially critical
implications for both resident and care partners’ quality of life and care experiences, little if any research has
systematically studied ethics in the AL context. The aims of this bioethical issues supplement are to: 1) identify
the nature, types, frequency, and context of ethical issues arising in the course of daily life and care interactions
between residents and their care partners; and 2) develop a typology of ethical issues arising in AL that
categorizes issues on the basis of the conflicting values or uncertainty for stakeholders. We address our aims
using data from the parent project, “Meaningful Engagement and Quality of Life among AL Residents with
Dementia.” The five-year study seeks to learn from residents and their care partners and involves studying
daily life and care routines. Using an ethics lens, we analyze the Wave 1 data set comprised of interview data,
fieldnotes documenting over 1,500 observation hours, and resident record review collected in 4 diverse AL
sites. Findings will elucidate the ethical context in this highly popular and complex care setting, form the basis
for a future intervention study, and inform policy and practice recommendations aimed at improving AL
resident quality of life and overall quality of care and reducing the moral distress of their formal and informal
care partners, ultimately enhancing the overall impact of the parent project.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10131410
- **Project number:** 3R01AG062310-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Candace Lynn Kemp
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $138,905
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-09-30 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10131410

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10131410, Meaningful Engagement and Quality of Life among Assisted Living Residents with Dementia. (3R01AG062310-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10131410. Licensed CC0.

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