Care-related preferences and values of elderly community-based LTC consumers: can case managers learn what's important to clients?

This article describes the development and implementation of a brief values assessment protocol to be used by case managers working in community-based long-term care (LTC) for the elderly and presents data on the values and preferences of 790 LTC clients at two locations. The importance that clients placed on selected issues related to their care (e.g., privacy, daily routines, activities, involvement of family in care, the trade-off between freedom and safety) varied as did the specific content of those issues. Associations were found between the content and strength of preferences. The work has implications for research and practice.