Honoring nursing home resident preferences for recreational activities to advance person-centered care

Nursing homes are embracing person-centered care, an approach that emphasizes "knowing the person" and honoring each individual's preferences. As providers shift toward person-centered care, they need timely, efficient tools and methods to gauge whether they are meeting consumer preferences and to identify areas in need of improvement. The Preference Match Tracker is a new tool that measures alignment between resident preferences and recreational activities. The Preference Match Tracker can be used to document and track individual recreation preferences and activities and then produce practical, graphic reports about these preferences for each resident, for each household within the facility, and for the facility as a whole. The authors describe the development of the tool and the outcomes of a pilot test of the tool in a long-term care facility. The Preference Match Tracker provides information that recreation staff can easily interpret and use to enhance the quality of care and quality of life for NH residents.