We have been working hard since last Fall to conduct a multi-stage ethnographic study for the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.  Factors that Delay or Prevent Nursing Facility Placement is being conducted through the University of South Florida where I hold a courtesy appointment.

We reviewed 191 case files at four different agencies selected to represent rural and urban and various race and ethnic groups.  From these files, we recruited 44 clients or caregivers who were interviewed at their home or in a nursing home.  We are in the final stage which is interviewing the case managers for those clients.

In addition to statistical data based on case file information such as the number of activities of daily living or environmental needs, we are amassing a large qualitative database that includes case file notes and the results of the interviews.  This in-depth information is being coded and analyzed for themes that would explain how some clients do or do not prevent a nursing facility stay.

It has been very exciting to be in the field interviewing older people.  In the last several years, my studies have been mailed or telephone interviews conducted by survey staff.  Visiting people in their home and getting to know them over a 1-2 hour interview keeps me grounded in why I do this work.

I am halfway to my first hurdle–two years–when two-thirds of information businesses are still in business. In between working on the Outreach by Religious Congregations survey and re-analysis of data collected the previous year on the 40+ population, I worked closely with the Florida Department of Elder Affairs to develop a research design for an ethnographic study of elders who receive state support for home and community-based services and are either very frail but remain living in their home, or less frail and end up in a nursing home. Through interviews and reviewing case files, we expect to have a clearer idea of this phenomenon to help the state think about how they can do a better job of supporting people at home. This project is just getting started and will be done by September 2009.

It has been exactly a year since my last vacation, after which my business officially began. My family is looking forward to a week relaxing in rural Pennsylvania. My 2.5 year old son has learned the words “office” “door” (as in closed so I can work) and “computer.” You should see him playing toddler games on his own computer!

If you are reading this, you are now on my new web host which is much faster than our previous one. I received an email from Mark a few weeks ago alerting us to a speed problem that I was in the midst of trying to fix with our previous host. That host failed me, so when Mark wrote again and suggested a host that was routed through less popular hubs (e.g., A Small Orange (1)), I made the move. Of course, moving web content from one host to another comes with a “host” of problems which my IT subcontractor (2) took care of handily.

Mark found me via my posting on garage culture. I am very grateful to him for taking the time to recommend a good solution. We garage businesses find colleagues in many ways. Thanks Mark!

I took a few minutes today to update my website with two new pages: New Projects and Certifications. In my first six months as a research consultant, I have had four projects funded and have been certified as a woman owned enterprise by Hillsborough County (Tampa) where I’m also an established vendor.

Upon leaving the University, I was offered a courtesy appointment as a Research Assistant Professor. I plan to submit larger, federally funded contracts through the School of Aging Studies. I continue to serve on a doctoral committee and work with colleagues on writing projects.

I am registered with Florida both as doing business as Aging Research Group and as a vendor. And I joined the Chamber of Commerce in Gulfport, Florida.

The processes of running a small business are in place. I found health insurance that was more affordable than the COBRA policy and liability insurance required by some entities. I established a PO Box in neighboring St. Petersburg to handle mailed surveys. I have subcontracted work to eight women, most of whom were former students or colleagues who had already demonstrated their high caliber work. And I have learned the ups and downs of bidding on projects as a consultant rather than as part of a state university.

It has been a good six months. I am looking forward to completing the current projects and adding new ones at a regular clip!

Last summer as my family camped out in the front of our house while our garage was remodeled into two offices, we were flipping through the cable channels and found a speech by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who made the comment–some of the best innovations started in someone’s garage.

I realized that perhaps there was more to this decision to work at home than reducing my commute time (which was high on my list). In fact, our budget was such that we left the floor unfinished so although my office has beautiful violet walls and a window looking out on our neighbor’s orchard, it is still a garage. A place for innovation.

Noric Dilanchian wrote that your garage is “also often free of hustle and bustle, a place that’s peaceful, where you can think deeply.” The term “garage culture” has also been used to describe a man’s place for his tools & toys; garage bands; and the ubiquitous American garage sales (1). The Independent’s Stephen Pritchard describes the entrepreneurial side: “almost a symbol for the idea that anyone who wants to set up a business should go ahead and try” (2).

The history of innovation in garages is primarily about electronic giants such as the famous partnership of William Hewlett & David Packard nearly 70 years ago followed by Apple computer inventors Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak and Google entrepreneurs Larry Page & Sergey Brin. Given this history, it is no surprise that venture capitalists are applying the garage culture to finding and funding more of such start-ups (1). One such group, Garage Technology Ventures, is “looking to invest in extraordinary entrepreneurs who have the ability to build great teams and great companies” (3).

And here is where Aging Research Group connects to the garage culture. Through sub-contractors recruited from my best former students or collaborators, I have the ability to put together a team of smart, motivated, and talented women of all ages and backgrounds to conduct a research study quickly and competently, and within budget. Although we are not setting the world on fire with new ideas, we can respond to needs for data and analysis in time for you to make innovations in your business or agency that will make a difference to seniors and their families.

We work from our homes where we balance work and family which gives us particularly relevant perspectives. Some of us are raising children; others are caring for parents or grandparents. Some are working on second degrees; others are going to college for the first time as grandparents themselves. It is a new garage culture—where women (and men!) spend a few hours each day away from family concerns to apply their considerable skills to work that makes a difference.>

(1)original link is no longer available: http://www.dilanchian.com.au/intellectual-property/garage-culture-puts-fun-to-work.html

Dr. Deborah Hedgecock is a recent graduate of the University of South Florida’s aging studies program. Debbie and I have worked together since 2000 when we had to gather a lot of data in a few months for a legislative Task Force on Availability and Affordability of Long-Term Care. Debbie pioneered data collection methods for identifying and analyzing lawsuits against nursing homes. This was not a small feat!

These data and other work staff completed for the Task Force were used to justify increases in staffing in nursing homes and changing the requirements for filing a lawsuit against a nursing home. Dr. Hedgecock’s dissertation addressed how these changes affected the nature and extent of nursing home lawsuits in Florida.

She was also the project manager for our survey of assisted living residences in Florida and a study of nursing home liability insurance trends. I am delighted to continue to work with Debbie as part of Aging Research Group.

Jennifer

I am in transition between full-time faculty to part-time research consultant. I filed my fictitious name–Aging Research Group–with the State of Florida, purchased two website addresses (.com and .org), and I am working on a website that will be launched in August, after I leave my academic job.I am fascinated with blogs although I only occasionally read them. Along with myspace, blogs appear to be the ultimate purpose of the internet–a forum to introduce yourself and your ideas to the world, unfiltered. As a social scientist who understands the importance of peer reviewed research, I worry that any old ideas will be accepted as truth. As a social scientist who knows that all knowledge is the hypothesis for what is examined next, I think that blogging may be a way to identify new ways of thinking about our discipline. In this case, the field of aging studies or gerontology.