Consumer Satisfaction in Nursing Homes

Abstract

Surveys of resident satisfaction are commonplace in most nursing homes, although surveys used in many facilities may be biased toward concerns of providers and regulators instead of residents. In this study, content for a nursing home satisfaction survey was synthesized from analysis of 11 published and 5 commercially available instruments, as well as qualitative data from interviews with a diverse group of 15 residents in three New Jersey nursing homes. Content analysis of the 16 instruments yielded six broad domains of resident satisfaction: activities, care and services, caregivers, environment, meals, and well-being. Data from residents yielded 87 discrete areas of content across the six domains. In all domains except meals, existing instruments failed to address at least one area of content considered important by residents. Findings from this study provided a framework to generate items for a standardized resident satisfaction survey to be used in New Jersey nursing homes.