Healthcare Areas

In a survey conducted in 2022-23, Health Quality Alberta asked residents living in continuing care homes – type B (formerly designated supportive living):

Are you satisfied with the activities offered here?

Residents could choose “Yes, always / Yes, sometimes / No, hardly ever / No, never”

Activities can be things like entertainment, arts and crafts, religious services, outings, and exercise classes. Having meaningful activities to participate in is a common theme when it comes to quality of life and bringing joy and meaning to a resident’s life. The variety, number, and choice of activities available to residents can impact a resident’s overall experience at a site. For example, a resident’s overall experience of care and services is often more positive if their experiences with activities are also positive.

There are a number of factors providers and leaders can consider to better understand and improve resident satisfaction with activities. Before taking action, consider the following:

• What information is gathered about the variety, number, and choice of activities that would be meaningful for residents? How often is this information collected and offerings reviewed or refreshed? How are individual and collective resident interests considered and how do activity offerings evolve to meet changing interests?
• How do residents feel about the quality of the activities offered? Which activities give the residents a sense of purpose or meaning?
• How is the quality of activities balanced with the number and choice of activities offered?
• How are individual resident abilities and capacity to participate in activities taken into account? What assumptions might staff make about a resident’s ability or capacity?
• Some residents may not want to participate in the activities offered by the site. Why do you think this is? What are some benefits of encouraging participation? When and how might encouragement be appropriate and beneficial?
• Who else (e.g., staff, loved ones, volunteers, etc.) is integrated into these activities? How is that done, if at all?
• Which accommodation standard(s) does this question help inform, if any?
• Which Continuing Care Health Service Standard(s) does this question help inform, if any?
• Who should be involved in discussions to improve these results? How could residents and/or family members be engaged to develop solutions? What other collaboration might be required to make improvements in this area?
• A site may only be directly accountable for one type of staff. For example, in designated supportive living, case management and sometimes nursing care are delivered by Alberta Health Services, while other services like care aides and housekeeping are managed by a housing provider or site operator. How can providers collaborate to improve this result?

For information about Health Quality Alberta’s Facility-based Continuing Care survey, please visit Health Quality Alberta’s website.