Policy and research issues for small assisted living facilities

Dramatic growth in Assisted Living (AL) has resulted in increasing research and policy interest. This analysis compares smaller and larger AL facilities in four states to determine whether extant measures of four key concepts, used to distinguish the AL sector, give advantage to larger facilities. Quantitative comparisons predominantly show differences favorable to larger facilities; qualitative information raises the prospect that current measures overlook beneficial aspects of smaller facilities. If small facilities are included under the AL banner. both policy provisions and quality assessment must be carefully crafted to avoid placing small homes in funding and oversight jeopardy as AL develops.     

Pervasive Muslim-Hindu fertility differences in India

Using the 1993 Indian Family and Health Survey, we examined Muslim-Hindu differences in (1) the parity-specific intent to have another child and (2) given a stated intent for no more children, reports of the current use of contraceptives. We found that Muslims are much more likely than Hindus to intend to have additional children and, among those who do not want more children, Muslims are much less likely than Hindus to use contraceptives. These findings are robust to model specification and pervasive across the states of India. This national study provides the context within which local studies should be enmeshed and begs for general (as opposed to place-specific) explanations for these pervasive differences.     

Selection of the Transformation Variable in the Laplace Transform Method of Estimation

The work of this paper is based on the innovative approach of Feigin et al. (1983), who estimate parameters of lifetime distributions by equating empirical and theoretical Laplace transforms. We show that the optimal choice of the transform variable depends critically upon the number of sampling times, the way they are spaced, and how the empirical transform is formed. Two new approaches for choosing the transform variable, viz. using cross-validation or constrained optimisation, are introduced and shown to have potential for wide-ranging use.     

Contents of Volume 17, 2001

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 17, 2001     

Mental Illness in Assisted Living: Challenges for Quality of Life and Care

ABSTRACT

An unknown number of mentally ill elders in the United States receive care in assisted living, along with persons facing physical or cognitive challenges. While dementia is familiar in assisted living, our data indicate that neither staff nor residents are prepared to work or live with the mentally ill. Challenges are created for professionals, since these residents bring diverse needs. Daily interresident interactions are also disrupted or stressful. Qualitative data describe the impacts on quality of resident life as well as care and management dilemmas identified within five assisted-living settings having varying presence of mental illness among residents.     

Friendship and Conformity in Group Opinions: Juror Verdict Change in Mock Juries

Social psychological research on group processes has consistently shown that group members adjust their views to conform to dominant and/or socially desirable stances. Studies are less clear, though, on how friendships within groups impact this tendency. Some studies suggest greater group cohesion leads to more conformity; other studies suggest friendship lessens the pressure to agree on certain issues. In this study, we use mock juries to test the impact of varying levels of friendship on jurors’ propensities to change their verdicts to the dominant position (in this case acquittal, or a “not guilty” verdict). Our findings show that distant friendships among jurors increase the odds of conforming to acquittal; but close friendships decrease the odds of conformity. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding group processes and conformity as well as for jury research.