Design for a Longitudinal Study of the Impact of an Enhanced Environment on the Functioning of Frail Adults

The article documents the development of an assisted living facility for low to moderate income, frail, older adults in Durham, North Carolina, and describes the research plan designed to assess longitudinally the impact of this facility on the functioning of its residents. The backbone of the conceptualization and development of this facility is an ongoing cooperative relationship among a research team at Duke Umversity's Center for Aging, the Durham Housing Authority, the Durham Department of Social Services, and related community agencies. These researchers and practitioners also worked together to create the research plan, which consists of characterizing resident health and functioning every 6 months using the Service Outcome Screen and the Community Alternatives Program assessment and characterizing the environment annually with Rudolf Moos' Multiphasic Environmental Assessment Procedure. Finally, this article reports preliminary observations about this new assisted living facility, including features of its environ ment and aggregate characteristics of its residents, and discusses future plans for monitoring their functional status and comparing them to older adults in other settings.