Nursing Home Administrators’ Attribution of Antifacility Bias to Ombudsman Programs

The federally mandated ombudsman program is a part of a deterrence approach to improving nursing home care. The author investigated whether nursing home administrators’(NHAs) views of volunteer resident advocates’ work would predict attributions of antifacility bias to ombudsman programs. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed from questionnaires completed by 199 NHAs. Perceptions of volunteers as aggressive and as hindrances, the belief that issues would be resolved without the program, and little contact with volunteers predicted an antifacility bias. There were four types of administrators who articulated needed improvements in ombudsman programs: positive activists, adversarials, collaborators, and educators. Strained relationships between NHAs and those who monitor them may increase facility and agency turnover and diminish the efforts of both. Research on person-environment fit for facility and ombudsman positions should be useful for those who train, license, certify, or hire these personnel.