Environmental quality of life in long-term care: The effect of institutional and community-based settings

A study of frail elderly persons in Jerusalem compared environmental quality of life among 66 institution dwellers and 64 community-based residents (n = 130). The effort employed a unique composite measure of the quality of housing, social, service and personal environments. Multivariate analysis found no effect of respondents’ background attributes on their environmental quality of life. A positive effect of self-rated health on subjective environment was outweighed by respondents’ mental state, measured in terms of positive affect. Institution dwellers reported lower environmental quality of life than community-based residents. But most significant among the findings was the poor subjective environmental rating of social welfare clients in the community when compared to home care clients and institution dwellers. The findings underscore the importance of guaranteed and regular receipt of services in environmental quality of life among frail and disabled older people. Implications for practice are discussed.