Why alert residents are more or less willing to cohabit with cognitively impaired peers: an exploratory model.

This study tested a model of the willingness of alert residents to cohabit with cognitively impaired peers in nursing homes. A systematic sample of 435 alert residents living on mixed care units selected in 19 nursing homes were interviewed. Four factors were of particular influence on the willingness to cohabit: alert residents' negative emotional reactions to living with the cognitively impaired, their knowledge of confusion, disturbance generated by dysfunctional behaviors, and benefits of cohabitation for the cognitively impaired as perceived by alert residents.