Back to school.

Your growth lies in educating the public about LTC options

A REVIEW OF ADULT CHILDREN AND their involvement in providing seniors housing and care for their relatives is a real eye-opener. Long term care facilities have incredible potential for growth, but confront an uninformed and often confused adult child population.

The National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industries (NIC) recently completed a study on adult children and how they influence their parents' housing and long term care decisions. What the study discovered was at once disconcerting and hopeful. It seems many adult children--often the decision-makers for their parents as they advance in age--are unfamiliar with the variety of senior services available to their parents. This lack of education inhibits their ability to make what could be a better decision for their parents when they need to obtain home health care or another level of care.

The answer, one might derive after studying the data from the NIC study, is to educate the adult child in advance of when he or she will have to make a decision for a relative.

"This is the most comprehensive study that's ever been done examining the adult child's role," says NIC Executive Director Robert G. Kramer. Following are excerpts from the study--conducted by Margaret Wylde, president and CEO, and her team at ProMatura Group LLC--provided through an interview with Kramer and MC Research Director Harvey N. Singer.

NIC conducted a telephone survey of more than 1,500 "adult children" between the ages of 45 and 64 from all across the United States who are, have been, or believe they will be responsible for the well-being of a parent, relative, or other older adult. The object was to learn about the roles, knowledge about housing and care options, and decision influences of adult children who may be responsible for the housing and health care of an older adult.

The sampling was skewed slightly toward higher income (which Kramer and Singer explain to be inevitable in a telephone survey) and higher education. "Almost a third of our 45-54-year-old respondents had more than a $75,000 household income," Kramer explains. Twenty-six percent of 55-64-year-olds had an income over $75,000.

"We tried to make sure we had statistically significant respondents," explains Singer. Here are some of the stats on respondents:

* 65 percent said they would have responsibility for an older adult should that need arise in the future

* 14 percent said they are responsible for an adult using home health care

* 3.5 percent had a relative in congregate care or independent living unit in a CCRC within the past 24 months

* 6.9 percent had a relative in an assisted living facility within the past 24 months

* 10.6 percent had a relative in a SNF within the past 24 months.

"We're not making the claim that this is the proportion of older adults in these types of facilities," Singer qualifies.

"We used quota sampling to get significant numbers whose parents were using some form of independent living facility, ALF, or SNF." Names were purchased from a commercially available list.

There is much teaching to do

The study reveals the level of knowledge--as well as the opinions--that these adult children have about senior services. There is apparently a wealth of information that could (and should) be made available to these decision-makers.

For instance, points evident from the study included that almost half (49 percent) of adult children who have future responsibility for a senior are uninformed about assisted living options; 60 percent are not familiar with independent living; and some 73 percent are not familiar with the idea of CCRCs; 71 percent, however, said they were familiar with home health care; nursing home familiarity was somewhat higher.

These numbers are staggering. It does, however, suggest where much of the hope for the facility-based long term care industry lies: in raising consumer awareness and education about the variety of care available. "There are still a lot of folks out there who are confused or uneducated about their options for their parent," Kramer concludes.