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.

Included in

Sociology Commons

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