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The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 61:P311-P314 (2006)
© 2006 The Gerontological Society of America

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Correlates of Caregiver-Rated Quality of Life in Assisted Living: The Maryland Assisted Living Study

Quincy M. Samus, Adam Rosenblatt, Chiadi Onyike, Cynthia Steele, Alva Baker, Michael Harper, Jason Brandt, Lawrence Mayer, Peter V. Rabins and Constantine G. Lyketsos

1 The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
2 The Copper Ridge Institute, Sykesville, Maryland.
3 University of California–San Francisco School of Medicine.

Address correspondence to Quincy Miles Samus, MS, 550 North Broadway, Suite 201, Baltimore, MD 21205. E-mail: qmiles{at}jhmi.edu

We used a cross-sectional study to examine the correlates of caregiver-rated quality of life (QOL) in 198 randomly selected residents from a stratified random sample of 22 assisted living facilities in central Maryland. We measured QOL by using the Alzheimer's Disease-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire. In general, despite cognitive impairment, residents in assisted living were rated as having a high QOL. In a multivariate regression, we found that nonmood neuropsychiatric symptoms were the strongest correlate of QOL, explaining 37% of the variance. Depressive symptoms, functional dependence, marital status, and cognition also contributed to the model, but only minimally. Because of the strong association of neuropsychiatric symptoms with QOL, special attention should be given to their recognition and amelioration.






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Copyright © 2006 by The Gerontological Society of America.