Lucy Klein

Dr. Lisa M. Wisniewski

HSR 320
12/07/2020

Journal Article Critique: Interviewing Elderly Residents in Assisted Living

1. The title of this article is Interviewing Elderly Residents in Assisted Living and the
authors of this article are Carol A. B. Warren and Kristine N. Williams.
2. The purpose of this article was to get an insight on the elderly and their feelings towards
being in an assisted living facility as there were several residents who were interviewed
and asked questions about assisted living. This brought out the certain feelings that
several residents have from being in an assisted living facility compared to being in the
comfort of their own home. This interview was able to provide both an inside look at the
experience a resident receives while in an assisted living facility as well as seeing what
issues that residents encounter while living there.
3. The information was gathered by going to four different assisted living facilities located
in the Midwest and then, an interview was conducted with 21 elderly women. This
interview comprised of five open-ended questions surrounding the idea of figuring out
how living was like at that facility, what could be improved at that assisted living facility,
etc. Aside from asking open-ended questions during an interview, two different scales
were given and used with the residents in order to obtain quantitative data. The two scales
were a depression scale and a quality-of-life scale.
4. The main findings of this article revolved around the answers that were given to the
interviewer and the context of the answers. A lot of the answers from many of the
residents were either vague or deflected, so that a straight-forward answer was avoided. It
was seen by many that the residents didn’t really choose an assisted living facility over
their own home, but it was something they needed to get the care that was needed and the
one thing that residents were afraid of more than an assisted living facility was a nursing
home or death. Through the questions asked and answered, it was evident that the
residents displayed both institutional fear and institutional loneliness. Many of the
residents want to spend their time with the staff and other residents as they want people to
talk to and people to accompany them. At the assisted living facilities, the staff don’t
really devote their time or a lot of their time to accompany the residents and this makes
them feel lonely. Several of the questions revolved around how they liked living there,
what their relationship to staff was, if they could improve or change anything, as well as
questions pertaining to depression. A lot of the residents deflected the question or made it
about someone else, like their daughter. Sometimes the resident used impairment as a
way to avoid the question too. The residents would act as though they couldn’t hear the
question. It also seemed as though the residents had more to say pertaining to the
facilities and the staff, but then had a sort of fear, which held them back from divulging

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 more personal information. Some of this institutional fear derives from change and
residents needing to adapt to the facility. It’s a huge adaptation as many of the residents
there miss being in the comfort of their own home and close to their family. It seems as
though the residents don’t like the assisted living facilities and associate it with their lives
falling apart. There was also a mechanism that occurred during some of the questioning
where some residents would laugh, and that laughter was a sort of symbol as to how
some residents feel about being there. Living in an assisted living facility isn’t easy, but
again, adaptation is a huge part of it.
5. I enjoyed this article very much as it is very relatable, but from the perspective of several
residents. I used to work in a nursing home, and you can really see how much the
residents don’t enjoy being there. There are several staff that won’t treat the residents the
best, and with COVID restrictions, residents weren’t able to see their families or had to
go through the process of dying alone. I think a lot of the residents during this interview
were genuinely scared to say anything bad about the facilities or the staff because at the
end of the day, the staff are the ones caring for the residents. It’s possible that the
residents think that if they speak badly about them, then they will be treated badly, or
they’ll be sent to a nursing home. I think that it’s sad that this is how the elderly feel in a
place that is supposed to substitute as their home. They should feel comfortable where
they are at and that is why I think only people who truly care about the well-being of the
elderly should work there. I could never treated anyone badly because I wouldn’t want
anyone to treat my family like that. I also agreed with that statement that was said in the
article where the residents always see a change in staff. This line of work tends to have a
huge turnover rate as not many people want to stay in one place for a long time, or they
just don’t like that line of work. I have seen a lot of people at my old job come and go
and I also left after a while too, in order to move to a hospital setting. Our elderly should
be treated with compassion and there should be time set aside so that they can have
company, sometimes that’s all they really want to feel good inside. I’m hoping that things
in assisted living facilities and nursing homes do get better for the elderly community.

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