National Research Center--CASOA

Yes, America is aging. But aging is not something that simply happens to a country. It happens in houses neighborhood by neighborhood. Most residents want to age in the communities where they live, but as the needs of residents change, communities must change with them.

So, what is a community to do to plan for its aging residents? Planning for increased numbers of older adults requires the wisdom to ask older adults themselves about their circumstances and needs.

With the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA), NRC offers a unique scientific survey of older adults’ perceptions about their communities and future needs. This tested service includes consultation, administration, analysis and reporting on a variety of older adult needs.

The Community Assessment Surveyfor Older Adults™ (CASOA) Focus Areas

Health and Wellness

Physical health

Overall health status, nutrition, fitness,falls,days institutionalized

Mental health

Overall mental health, depression, confusion or forgetfulness

Health care

Medications, affordable health insurance

Safety

Violent crime, property crime, fraud or scam,environmental hazards

Independent Living

ADLs, caregiver burden

Community Design and Land Use

Land use

Convenience of services and activities of daily need

Mobility

Safe and affordable, ability to get around

Housing

Suitable housing, affordable housing, home maintenance

Productive Activities

Civic Engagement

Volunteerism, civic attentiveness, voting

Civic Engagement

Volunteerism, civic attentiveness, voting

Employment & Education

Work in retirement, skill building, income

Recreation, arts & culture

Participation in leisure activities

Caregiving contribution

Economic contribution

Information and Planning

Information

Services for older adults, Social Security and Medicaid, planning, legal, financial

The NRC older adult needs assessment service package is a powerful strategic planning and evaluation tool that communities use to:

develop older adult service plans
determine how future resources should be allocated
evaluate current service provision
influence key stakeholders
empower community members
demonstrate the economic contribution of older adults
monitor success

Objectives

Identify community strengths and weaknesses
Articulate the specific needs of older adults in community
Develop estimates and projections of resident need in the future

Methods

Multi-contact scientific mailed survey
Representative sample of 1,000 older resident households
Data statistically reweighted to reflect population
Margin of error of +/- 5%

CASOA is simple, low cost and well tested from two of the most respected organizations in the country - National Research Center, Inc. the premier survey research firm for local government and NRPA (est. 1965), the service organization for parks and recreation managers. Here’s how CASOA works.

The CASOA Package consists of:

A systematic and representative sample of older adults in your area, sampled by NRC survey professionals
A 5-page templatized survey mailed to 1,000 randomly selected older adult households (48% average response rate)
Benchmark comparisons of key results compared to more than 35,000 older adults in 175+ communities across the nation
A results brief highlighting 20+ areas of community strength and weakness and prevalence of 40+ common older adults needs
Cost: $8,950

Additional features that can be added to the basic CASOA package:

Increased sample (more)
An additional 500 surveys mailed to your community providing an additional 100 to 250 surveys for analysis. You may increase the sample size in increments of 500 to reach as large a sample as you desire. Cost: $2,500 per 500 surveys
Spanish translation (more)
Survey translated into Spanish. The cover letter for your survey includes phone number at your organization for respondents to call and request Spanish survey. Spanish survey packets will be delivered to you for distribution to requestors. Cost: $950
Full report(more)
Instead of the Results Brief, you will receive a fully interpreted, detailed report including a set of recommendations to address larger areas of community need. Cost: $3,300
Demographic crosstabulations (more)
Subgroup comparisons will be provided in a separate report for four demographic questions by the evaluative questions on the survey. Cost: $900
Demographic profile (more)
Demographic profile of your current older adult population based on most recent Census or American Community Survey data. Cost: $1,200
Demographic projections (more)
Characteristics of older adults in the community based population projections provided by you. A recommended add-on if you find it useful to have estimates of anticipated need 5 and 10 years out. Cost: $1,350
Presentation of results (more)
Senior NRC staff will present key findings at a meeting of your choice. Recommended if it would be useful for you to have an independent researcher present findings. PowerPoint slideshow included for your use. Cost: $2,500
Stakeholder package (more)
Presentation materials created for your staff to give a presentation of your CASOA results to stakeholders. A highlights/executive summary and a press release will be provided for distribution. Designed for the experienced presenter. Cost: $900

CASOA Background

NRC developed CASOA to address the planning needs associated with the rapidly aging American population. CASOA is designed as a low-cost high quality needs assessment that provides credible empirical evidence of the opinions of a representative sample of all older adults in your area. The package is customizable to make it affordable to communities both large and small. CASOA has been administered to more than 10,000 Americans over age 60, so it is well tested. And with a subset of CASOA questions given to more than 30,000 older adults the service relies on a vast dataset to permit comparison of your older residents’ perspectives to the opinions of other older adults across the country.

CASOA researchers are well respected, nationally recognized, innovators in the area of older adult needs assessments and survey research. They have presented results of CASOA research at national conferences and in national publications.

Example CASOA Results

CASOA focuses on a series of resident needs and community supports that foster successful aging. More than 40 common issues affecting older adults drawn from older adult programming practices and the literature on aging are assessed in categories of overall quality of community; health and wellness; community land use and design; participation in various productive activities; community belonging and community resources for information and planning.

Getting started

It’s easy to have CASOA conducted in your area. Send an email to casoa@n-r-c.com and NRC professionals will contact you via email or phone, whichever you prefer. We’ll answer your questions and send you a simple starter kit with a few pieces of information to complete. We’ll give you references and costs (starting at $8,950) and a timeline that will work for your specific use. An example timeline appears below.