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Final year of Age Well Study confirms initial findings: CCRC residents fare better

Published 1 month ago4 minute read

In the fifth and final year of the Mather Institute’s Age Well Study, results supported initial findings for older adults in continuing care / life plan communities: These residents reported better physical, emotional, intellectual and social wellness than their community-dwelling counterparts.

“These updated findings confirm that residents continue to report significantly better health than their community-dwelling counterparts,” the Mather Institute said.

The five-year Age Well Study is the only national longitudinal study to evaluate the effects of living in a life plan community on residents’ health and well-being. Year 5 survey findings are based on responses from 2,863 life plan community residents across the country. Additionally, for the year 5 update, Mather Institute created a new dataset of responses from community-dwelling older adults using publicly available data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal survey of Americans over the age of 50. The final year of the study compared changes in wellness among residents of life plan communities to a comparable sample of older adults residing in the community at large.

In the first year, study results showed that life plan community residents’ health and wellness compared favorably with similar community-dwelling older adults.The second year of the study found that a community’s amenities, affiliation, location may provide advantage to residents. The third year focused on factors associated with resident happiness and life satisfaction. The fourth year investigated life plan community residents’ stress and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Examining how residents’ responses change over time, how community-dwelling older adults’ responses change over time and how responses from each of these two groups compare to each other at different time points provides insights into how or whether people Aged Well,” the Mather Institute said.

In the final survey, life plan community residents exhibited better self-reported health and higher levels of moderate physical activity compared to older adults from the community at large.

Life plan community residents were more likely to express positive perceptions of aging and less pessimism than the community-at-large respondents. At the same time, life plan community residents reported “comparatively more depressive symptoms and less perceived control.” 

“Examining changes over time, emotional wellness tended to be more stable for older adults from the community at large,” the Mather Institute said.  “Specifically, [life plan community] residents exhibited decreases in optimism, life satisfaction, and perceived control, while there was no significant change for older adults from the community at large.”

Life plan community residents overall expressed greater social wellness compared to the community-at-large respondents, including lower loneliness and more frequent social contact. 

“From year 1 to year 5, loneliness increased a small amount for Life plan community residents, but the change in loneliness over time was not significantly different between groups In contrast, social contact increased over time for life plan community residents,” the Mather Institute said. 

Life plan community residents self-reported having better memory and higher participation in intellectual activities compared to older adults in the community at large in Year 5.

“Examining changes over time from year 1 to year 5, self-rated memory decreased among life plan community residents. In contrast, engagement in intellectual activities decreased over time among older adults in the community at large, whereas intellectual activities increased among life plan community residents,” the Mather Institute said.

Data show that life plan community residents and residents of the community at large are equal when it comes to spirituality or religiosity. Researchers found no significant change in this measure from either group from year 1 to year 5.

The researchers concluded that life plan communities should encourage residents to participate in available wellness offerings, add more offerings related to emotional wellness, promote positive views of aging, support religious / spiritual activities and provide opportunities for participating in meaningful activities that contribute to residents’ sense of purpose.

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McKnight's Senior Living
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