'Homelike' setting in senior care not so important, study says

Assisted living residents might not place as high a value on how “homelike” their surroundings are as previously thought, according to an article on the McKnight's website. 

A study by St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn., found that of the eight assisted living residents studied, all seemed content with their surroundings but few of them had personal items from their previous homes, and expressed little interest in creating a more homelike setting.

Far more important was the sense that their facility was safe and that staff members cared about them, the study said.

The small scale of the study was a limitation, researchers said. The study identified the residents' desire for the facility to stay away from imitations of home living as an area for further research.

Read the article.