# Nursing Home Environments and COVID Related Outcomes for Persons with Dementia

> **NIH NIH R21** · KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $72,072

## Abstract

SUMMARY
PA-20-272 provides for administrative supplements for costs that were unforeseen when the
original grant was submitted. The impact of COVID-19 on nursing home residents across North
American was not anticipated, but has been unprecedented. The safety measures necessary to
prevent or reduce infections (e.g. social distancing, isolation, judicious use of personal
protective equipment) require a strong understanding of the reasons for such measures as well
as factors affecting compliance. Residents who are experiencing memory loss may not possess
the capacity to independently engage in these practices and may be highly confused by them.
In addition, these protocols have created additional challenges for many providers as they work
to also support quality-of-life for their residents. Emerging evidence is suggesting that the
nursing home setting, its scale, mechanical systems design and operational practices may be
significant factors in reducing infection rates. This project “Nursing Home Environments and
COVID Related Outcomes for Persons with Dementia” will supplement the existing research
initiative, “Validation of the Environmental Audit Scoring Evaluation (EASE) Tool”, to collect
additional data to determine if residents experiencing dementia differed in their infection rates
based on the scale and several additional design features of their living areas as well as the
operational practices for staffing these living areas. Using a sample of 15 nursing homes that
are all moderate to deep adopters of person-centered care and which are stratified to reflect
three distinct design styles (traditional/institutional, partial household/neighborhood, and full
household model), three living areas within each location will be evaluated based on the living
area type, consistency of staffing, differences in rates of COVID by private versus shared
bedrooms, and description of HVAC zoning to provide preliminary information about the
associations between living environment and COVID-19 rates.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10314343
- **Project number:** 3R21AG067010-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Migette Kaup
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $72,072
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10314343

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10314343, Nursing Home Environments and COVID Related Outcomes for Persons with Dementia (3R21AG067010-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10314343. Licensed CC0.

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