Degree Year
1994
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Sociology
Advisor(s)
Daphne John
Keywords
Eldery, Kendal, Kendal at Oberlin, Retirement community, Continuing care, United States, Continuing care retirement community, Retirement, Staff
Abstract
Due to changing demographics in the United States' elderly population,adequate senior housing is becoming a major concern for an increasing number of Americans. Issues and concerns of housing are related to a multitude of issues surrounding aging including the retention of one's independence and adaptation to age-related changes, the physical, the cognitive, the environmental. One of the most recent developments in senior housing is the continuing care retirement community (CCRC). This research focuses on Kendal at Oberlin, a newly constructed CCRC in Oberlin, Ohio.
Methodologically, data were gathered with resident-targeted and management and staff-targeted surveys. Research goals include delineating resident needs, expectations, and desires, their interaction with and relation to management and staff members, and exploring socialization factors involved in community formation. Analyses indicate that independence is a central underlying factor for most issues, concerns, and attitudes surrounding moving to and participating in the Kendal at Oberlin community. Residents share a rather homogeneous set of descriptive characteristics and attitudes suggesting anticipated high levels of community cohesiveness as well as a potential for conflict with the also relatively homogeneous management and staff population. Community formation is being fueled by the excitement of creating a new community and by the wide-spread respect and reverence for Quaker values and philosophies on which the institution is founded. Future developments of this research should include longitudinal analyses of the Kendal at Oberlin community, a prime target of focus due to its currently unique position as a newly opened CCRC.
Repository Citation
Schulte, Megan A., "Kendal at Oberlin: An Examination of Desires, Expectations, and Concerns of Residents and Management and Staff in the Formation and Development of a New Continuing Care Retirement Community" (1994). Honors Papers. 551.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/551
