At Eversound, we always want to hear from residents to ensure we’re providing a solution that meets their needs and enhances the senior living experience. We recently connected with Lynn Ackerman, Ph.D., of Sensight Surveys, who performed a thorough survey of senior living residents to determine their top satisfaction drivers. Through the insights provided in this article, senior living community teams can better understand the top factors that influence resident satisfaction and use the knowledge to strengthen their current strategies and improve their offerings.
Here’s what we found and how it can help your team increase resident satisfaction within your senior living community.
Top Drivers of Satisfaction for Senior Living Community Residents
The following “top satisfaction drivers” come from survey data collected from a combined 40,246 assisted and independent senior living community residents. Here is an analysis of the findings.
“Community management cares about me.”
Unsurprisingly, senior living residents want to feel cared about by the community management team. This was the number one satisfaction driver for both senior and independent living residents.
The challenge for senior living community management teams is demonstrating the fact that all residents are cared about. As each senior resident is unique, a one-size-fits-all approach is generally ineffective.
More specifically, hearing-impaired residents may feel that they have been forgotten or cast aside by a community not equipped to handle their disability. It’s crucial for community management teams to come up with strategies and implement solutions that will create the same high-quality experience for all residents, not just those without hearing loss. Taking a more inclusive approach can ensure that all residents receive the same level of consideration.
“I feel a sense of belonging in my community.”
A sense of belonging to one’s community is created when an individual feels secure, supported, accepted, and included by other community members.
For senior living community residents, a sense of belonging can only be found when residents can interact and connect with those around them. Unfortunately, residents with hearing loss may have a difficult time connecting with other residents and staff, as they may not be able to effectively communicate with them. As a result, residents who suffer from hearing loss experience high rates of social isolation.
Research conducted on the effects of social isolation shows that its harmfulness is similar to that of smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and lack of access to care. Helping residents better connect and communicate with those around them can foster a stronger sense of belonging and community.
“Staff members work together to meet my needs.”
Assisted living residents noted this metric as one of the most important satisfaction drivers. As assisted living residents typically require specialized care, it’s crucial for staff members to take a collaborative approach to resident care.
Collaboration requires effective communication between residents and staff. For those residents with hearing loss, communication can be challenging. This can make it difficult for residents to effectively communicate their needs, which can lead to a drop in the quality of care that residents receive.
Senior living communities need to implement solutions that remedy the challenges of communication that hearing-impaired residents face. This will help to support effective collaborative care.
How senior living teams can increase resident satisfaction
Resident satisfaction is an umbrella term used to describe a senior living community’s performance in various areas and residents’ response to said performance.
By improving one component of resident satisfaction (in this case, resident engagement), senior living community teams can increase resident satisfaction rates. One of the best ways to improve resident engagement is to address the barriers of resident engagement. That’s where Eversound comes in.
The Eversound solution is twofold, with a wireless listening system that includes headphones and programming content solution that can be used solo or together. Eversound’s wireless headphones are customizable and with easy to use individual volume controls that can be adjusted to help residents hear better. It’s a wireless listening system that can be used in group or one-on-one settings.
Eversound’s activity programming content solution offers residents the chance to watch and engage with programs designed for seniors. These programs span a range of subjects, including art, history, fitness, entertainment, and more. Residents can use Eversound’s headphones to listen to the activity programming for an enhanced experience.
With Eversound, not only can residents overcome communication barriers caused by hearing loss and focus issues they can participate in activities that they may have missed out on previously. A case study conducted by the Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing showed a 77% increase in resident engagement rates when Eversound’s headphone system was implemented in senior living communities. In short, Eversound can be the key to increasing resident satisfaction rates in your community.
Key Takeaways
Keep an eye out for our next article in the series, where we’ll take a deep dive into the findings of a survey that explores how prospects choose senior living communities.
If you want to learn more about Eversound, get in touch! We’re happy to help you explore Eversound’s solutions and the benefits your senior living community can reap.
