Nursing Home Profit Status and Pain Among Residents Living With Dementia

Nursing home (NH) residents living with dementia experience pain that is often sub-optimally managed. There is a known relationship between NH organizational factors, such as profit status, and quality of care. However, little attention has been paid to understanding the relationship between NH ownership profit status and pain among residents living with dementia.

To examine the relationship between NH ownership profit status and pain among residents living with dementia.

This cross-sectional secondary data analysis of the Evidence Integration Triangle for Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (EIT-4-BPSD) study included 553 NH residents living with dementia residing in 55 NHs in the United States.

Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the sample, and generalized linear mixed models were used to examine the relationship between NH ownership profit status and pain, controlling for resident comorbidities, cognition, and NH quality rating.

NH communities were mostly owned by for-profit entities (61.8%, n = 34), and less than one quarter of residents had pain (23.3%, n = 125). NH ownership profit status was not significantly associated with pain (OR = -0.88, 95% CI = -1.86 to 0.10; p = .08).

Given the complexity of assessing and treating pain in this population, there is a need for increased attention to improving pain management. Future studies should examine other NH organizational factors, such as for-profit entity subtype and its relationship with pain among residents living with dementia.