RESIDENT INTERVIEW GUIDE

What led to your move to the facility? Probe for:

What were the events precipitating the move (e.g., change in health status, change in support sys- tem, etc.)

How long have you lived in this home? How was this particular home chosen?

Now let’s talk about mealtimes. Which meals do you go to? Probe for:

Why does or does not go. Whom do you usually sit with?

Probe for:

Differences in seating patterns

Reasons for seating patterns, any variability, rules, degree of choice Satisfaction with seating pattern

Have you ever moved from one table to another? Why?

What would make you not want to sit with another resident? How do you think where you sit affects friendships with other residents?

Are you friends with residents at your table? Why or why not?

SOCIAL SUPPORT NETWORKS

These questions are designed to find out more about residents’ ADL and IADL needs and abili- ties and the function of their social support networks in these activities. This section also will address help residents provide to others. The social network map will be used as a guide in asking these questions.

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For the activities that the resident has indicated in Type 1 interviews they need help with, ask if any changes have occurred in the following and reasons for the change:

Kind of help needed When, how often needed

Verify who provides (facility caregivers, family, friends, other resi- dents)

How / where provided

What led to change and when change occurred Is there any help you need now that you are not receiving?

Probe for:

Type of help desired Reasons for not getting Who would like to provide

How do you feel about being helped? Probe for:

Variation in feelings related to who performs and to the type of help

Help Provided:

For the help that the resident has indicated in Type 1 interviews that he or she provides to others, ask if any changes have occurred in the following and reasons for the change:

Kind of help provided When, how, how often Why provided

Verify who provided to (family, friends, other residents) How do you feel about helping?

Probe for:

Variation in feelings related to who helps and type of help given SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS/INTERACTIONS

These questions address the resident’s social life, with whom contact is maintained, how, when, how often, what these relationships and interactions mean, what barriers interfere with, and how much choice and control resident has over them

119 Let’s talk about your relationships with other residents.

First, how do you get to know other residents in the home? Probe for:

During activities In dining room

Through other residents, staff Personal strategies

Now, tell me about which resident(s) you are closest to in this home. Probe for:

When they met How they met

How often they get together, where, and when What they do together

Level of satisfaction with type and amount of contact What about this person they like

Have you made new friends this year? Probe for:

Who When they met

How they met

How often they get together, where, and when What they do together

Level of satisfaction with type and amount of contact What about this person they like

What led to the friendship

Who is your best friend? Probe for:

Who, whether resident or not When they met

How they met

How often they get together, where, and when What they do together

Level of satisfaction with type and amount of contact What about this person they like

What led to the friendship

Are there any residents you avoid contact with? Probe for:

120 Who

Why

When, how often, where How much time do you spend alone?

Probe for:

Whether has enough “alone” time

Times of day / daily activities when social contact preferred

Could you describe any help you give to other residents? (unless covered earlier in interview) Probe for:

Who residents are

Type of help given and frequency Attitudes/values about helping Barriers to helping, facility rules

Could you describe any help other residents give to you? (unless covered earlier in interview) Probe for:

Who residents are Type of help given Satisfaction with help

Attitudes/values about being helped

Any differences to being helped by family members or staff

Factors Influencing Relationships with Other Residents Transitions

Have you lost any friends this year? Probe for:

Who When they met

How loss occurred- death, move, transfer How they met

How long they had known the person How feel about the loss

How did you deal with this loss? Probe for:

Personal strategies Help from others

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What happens when a friend declines mentally or physically? Probe for:

Effect of specific type of decline Changes in interaction and support patterns

Are you friends with residents in the DCU or in the nursing home (for facilities with more than one care level)?

Probe for:

Who

Type and frequency of interaction When they met / how they met

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Appendix F

Facility Code: _________ Resident Code#

If resident did not list any other residents in their network map, ask them the following question: In talking about people who are most important to you now, you did not name in other res- idents who live here. Could you talk a little about what kind of relationships you have with other residents? [Record verbatim]

If the resident names quite a few residents in their network map, ask them the following question:

I notice you listed quite a few residents as being important to you in your social network. Could you talk a little bit about how these relationships came about? [Record verbatim]

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1

Generally, there are four types of networks i.e. diverse, family focused, friends focused and re- stricted. Restricted networks are further divided into two types i.e. restricted non-friends unsatisfied and restricted non-family unsupported. The restricted non- friends unsatisfied type of networks consists of those who are unmarried, have smaller network size, have low frequencies of contact with friends, less involvement in activity and very low emotional support and satisfaction from the relationships. The re- stricted non- family supported network type consists of those who are unmarried, have small geograph- ically distant networks, have low frequency of contact with families, low involvement in the activity, low emotional support but relatively more satisfied with the relationships. The restricted non-friends unsatis- fied network type is associated with high depressive symptomatology and diverse type is associated with low depressive symptomatology (Fiori, Antonucci& Cortina, 2006; Fiori, Antonucci& Akiyama, 2008). The behavioral and physiological mechanisms may also describe the association of social relationships with health although the empirical evidence supporting these pathways is scanty (Berkman, 1995).

1

The data for this study come from a subsample of the first wave of the survey of Aging, Status, and the Sense of Control (ASOC), completedin 1995. It consists of the sample of 1,103 older adults ranging in ages from 60 to 95 years. Information about the anticipated social support was collected by means of four item scale asking about their agreement regarding any social support in the future. The information about the functional disability was collected by means of their responses on their perceived difficulty in per- forming 5 instrumental ADLs and tasks from Nagi physical functioning scale.

1

Data for this study were collected from the sample living at communities in New Haven by means of interviews conducted on yearly basis from 1982-1991. Participants were 65 years and over. Six items in- dex of ADLs (Branch, Katz, Kniepmann, &Papsidero, 1984), like bathing, eating , dressing, using the toilet, walking across a small room, bed to chair transfer and 3 items Rosow- Breslau index (Rosow& Breslau, 1966), like doing heavy household work, walking up and down the stairs and walking half a mile were used to measure their disabilities. Social network ties were measured by using a scale which identi- fies the number of ties through face to face contacts, non-face to face contacts and geographic proximity with children, friends, relatives and confidant. Social support was measured in two aspects of emotional support like talking about problems and instrumental support like helping in IADLs.

1

There was a study conducted by Golden and Colleagues (2009), in which data were collected from 1,299 community dwelling older adults above the age of 65 by means of interviews. Information about loneliness, depression, well- being, hopelessness, life satisfaction and happiness was collected by Geriatric Mental State (GMS), social networks were assessed using the Practitioner Assessment of Net- work Type schedule developed by Wenger. It was found that loneliness and non- integrated social net- works both independently affects the mood and well- being of the sample. Hopelessness and depression is also seen in them which might engage those people in the act of self- harming, thus affecting their health.