Congruent perceptions in the evaluation of community-care facilities

The purpose of this research was to determine whether differential perceptions of the environment of a sheltered-care facility by residents and operators of that facility would be of use in predicting a primary outcome variable--a resident's social integration. Differences between resident and operator assessements in a variety of areas were examined as were the conditions contributing to agreement or disagreement, such as resident satisfaction or the extent of a family-like atmosphere at the facility. The implications for using perceptual congruence as an evaluation strategy were discussed.