Our aim was to gain constructive information in response to our residents and to better inform the Resident Council.

Survey Motivations:

Compliance --  California Health & Safety Code 1771.7 (d)(2) provides, “The provider shall biennially conduct a resident satisfaction survey that shall be made available to the resident association or its governing body, or, if neither exists, to a committee of residents at least 14 days prior to the next semiannual meeting of residents and the governing board of the provider required by subdivision (c) of Section 1771.8. A copy of the survey shall be posted in a conspicuous location at each facility.”

Marketing Support –

Act as a Voice for Residents

Identify Areas for Attention

Not surprisingly, residents are more interested in the last, while providers interest is in the first two.

We did not feel that the provider sponsored survey fully met the needs of residents.

Our Approach

First we recognized that we could not generate a scientific survey, so the survey is no more than a compilation of the responses of those residents who respond.

Roughly one third of our residents don’t respond; This is lower than the statistics cited for the provider-sponsored survey.

Differences from Provider Survey

• We gave no incentive prizes

• We didn’t issue a memo of achievements in connection with the distribution of the survey forms

• We didn’t provide assistance in completing the survey

Our survey is just representative of those who were self-motivated to complete it and who took the time to complete it on their own.

Second, we adopted some principles to guide our process.

• We wanted to sample opinion in a way that could enable management to respond constructively.

• We adopted a neutral stance; questions were carefully phrased to avoid advocacy.

• Questions were positively phrased even for items of considerable controversy; we had trouble with this the first year.

• We tried to avoid ambiguity but some seemed appropriate, e.g. “luxury” dining.

• Still ambiguity, yes or no, has been a challenge.

• Length was a factor and we found that shorter is better. This required intense discussion and focus.

Mechanics

• We developed the survey using a Word template.

• We summarized the results using Excel.

• Only one person had full access to the records to maintain the integrity of the responses.

• We recorded data exactly as stated, e.g. a resident who gave an age over 100 when we knew then that there was no such resident..

• We collected demographic data along with opinion data since the provider did not share this data with residents.

We believe that the survey helped to improve our working relationship with the provider organization even though the provider remained skeptical.