Dementia and assisted living.

PURPOSE

This article presents an overview of what is known about dementia services in assisted living settings and suggests areas for future research.

DESIGN AND METHODS

We undertook a search of Medline, the Journals of Gerontology, and The Gerontologist. We then organized publications dealing with the target subject into 10 topic areas and reviewed them.

RESULTS

The article describes the demographic characteristics of cognitively impaired residents in assisted living and related residential settings in the United States, the services they receive, and process and structural elements both in specialized dementia units and in integrated assisted living settings. Finally, we review the literature on methodological issues regarding research in this area.

IMPLICATIONS

It is important to generate research on processes as well as outcomes, such as dignity, individualized and pleasurable experiences, and freedom from pain and discomfort. We make recommendations for both content areas that would benefit from further research as well as methodological approaches that will yield important information in this field.