BEYOND THE DICHOTOMY - AN EMPIRICAL TYPOLOGY OF ALZHEIMERS CARE IN NURSING-HOMES

Unit-level data describing dementia care attributes in 390 units in 12 3 Minnesota nursing facilities were used in a two-stage analytic proce dure (1) to derive a typology of unit clusters and (2) to describe sim ilarities and differences across unit clusters in terms of dementia ca re attributes and other unit characteristics not used to derive the ty pology, Nursing units were classified with combinations of environment al, programmatic, and staff attributes into six unit clusters. Most sp ecial care units (SCUs) were in a single unit cluster (dementia units) with the most dementia care attributes and serving mostly residents w ith dementia. Two unit clusters (small custodial units and rehabilitat ion units) were composed exclusively of non-SCUs, whereas remaining un it clusters (conventional units, large undifferentiated units, and hea vy care units) consisted predominantly of non-SCUs with roughly equal proportions of residents with and without dementia. The typology offer s a potentially useful way of classifying dementia care in nursing hom es.