{"doi":"10.1111/jgs.19475","title":"What Changed Your Mind? Influencers of Older Adults Changing Decisions About Aging‐In‐Place Versus Long‐Term Care","abstract":"BACKGROUND: As individuals experience age-related changes, such as cognitive decline or hospitalizations, their ability to live independently at home may be impacted. Decision-making and planning are essential in order to support successful aging-in-place (AIP), which is defined as continuing to live in one's home and community. Despite making plans at one single time-point, prior research has demonstrated that decision-making among older adults is not stagnant. AIMS: The objective of this qualitative study was to understand what influences older adults to change their plans about AIP versus living in long-term care (LTC) settings. METHODS: We analyzed a subset of the PlanYourLifespan study subjects (a longitudinal cohort study of community dwelling older adults) who have shown a fluctuation in their AIP/LTC decisions over a 6-month period and surveyed what influenced their decisions to change. Decisions related to support needed in the case of a hospitalization and Alzheimer's disease/memory loss (rehabilitation preferences, caregiver support, living preferences, and LTC facilities) were assessed. Three investigators individually coded open-ended survey responses to identify emerging themes using constant comparative analysis with triangulation of themes. RESULTS: Of the 293 PYL study subjects, 134 expressed a change to at least one of their decisions. Through a qualitative analysis of survey responses, five overarching themes emerged that influenced fluctuating decision-making: (1) personal health experience, (2) health experience of a loved one, (3) increased contemplation, (4) social support network influences, and (5) denying change. DISCUSSION: This study was the first to examine the factors that influence fluctuating AIP/LTC decision-making among older adults. The key influencers identified highlight the importance of ongoing discussions to revisit AIP/LTC planning in the case of changing or unexpected life events. Having a strong understanding of what influences seniors in their AIP/LTC decision-making processes will enable us to include these factors and people in decision-making discussions.","journal":"Journal of the American Geriatrics Society","year":2025,"id":520937,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9532,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1104565,"name":"Raven Relerford","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1104566,"name":"Charles Olvera","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":721421,"name":"Vanessa Ramirez‐Zohfeld","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":721420,"name":"Amber Miller‐Winder","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":302259,"name":"Lee A. Lindquist","orcid":"0000-0002-4290-5081","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1391246,"name":"Isabel Cohen","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":15,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:49:32.958846Z","pmid":"40214161","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}