An engaged resident population is a telltale sign of a flourishing senior living community. One where residents participate consistently, staff are available on-hand to facilitate and engage participants, and family members are actively involved and up to date on community events.
A thriving engagement program has tremendous impacts on residents’ well-being as well as community health. Studies have shown that engaged older adults report lower levels of loneliness and depression, and experience slowed cognitive decline. With increased feelings of well-being and social connection, residents are more likely to feel satisfied in their communities and lengthen their stay.
The best way to encourage activity engagement is to personalize programming to residents’ interests. Not every resident enjoys the same hobbies or music or games, and tailoring programming to appeal to different residents’ unique preferences can help them feel motivated to attend and actively participate in activities.
However, crafting a truly personalized engagement program is time-intensive. It requires that activity professionals learn residents’ interests, develop creative programming, and continuously adapt to evolving needs. That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in—not as a replacement for human interaction but as a powerful tool to enhance personalization and efficiency in resident engagement personalization.
Understanding residents at move-in
Every resident enters a senior living community with a lifetime of experiences, interests, and unique preferences. They’ve built careers, nurtured families, traveled, and pursued hobbies. The more deeply community staff understand their residents' unique backgrounds, the more they can tailor programming to create a meaningful experience.
AI can play a pivotal role in this process. While sitting down with a resident and recording their background information at move-in is invaluable for building relationships between residents and staff, the administrative lift of resident intake is ripe for automation. AI can transcribe resident interviews and distill key information into accessible profiles, ensuring that resident biographical data is captured efficiently and accurately.
A centralized digital repository of resident interests, histories, and preferences enables all staff members—regardless of tenure—to provide a seamless, personalized experience. This is especially critical in an industry where staff turnover can disrupt continuity in resident relationships.
Empowering staff to weave personalization into programming
Once resident information is captured, AI can help turn that data into action. An AI-enhanced calendar management tool can take resident profile information into consideration when suggesting activities. For instance, AI can propose a painting class for a group of art enthusiasts, or a reading group led by a former English teacher.
Coming up with activity ideas to fill a calendar of engagement programming is one of the most time-consuming aspects of activity planning. AI has incredible creative capacity to generate fresh, relevant activity ideas, reducing the load from staff so they can focus on engaging with residents.
Beyond suggesting ideas, AI can also provide the necessary resources and materials for each activity and input them directly into facilitator notes. This ensures that any staff member can step in and seamlessly lead an activity, making programming more flexible and reducing disruptions when team members are unavailable.
Facilitating connections through shared interests
Residents are more likely to feel motivated to attend an activity if they know their friend is going. For staff, knowing which residents share similar interests can help them plan activities and encourage them to participate with their friends.
AI can act like a second brain in this scenario, identifying shared interests among residents and suggesting social connections. If two residents have a passion for jazz or a background in gardening, AI can recognize these commonalities, enabling staff to encourage organic friendships and making group activities more inviting.
This level of personalization fosters a stronger sense of belonging, helping encourage residents to attend events surrounded by like-minded peers.
Elevating engagement with AI-enhanced content recommendations
Beyond activity planning, AI can enhance programming by recommending relevant content. AI can suggest a themed trivia set based on residents’ favorite topics for trivia night, or curate a playlist of classical music to complement the creative atmosphere of a therapeutic painting class.
AI can also empower residents to take ownership of activities, recommending content that enables them to lead or contribute to engagement programming. A retired professor might be inspired to host a lecture, or a former chef could share their favorite recipes in a cooking demo. By providing intelligent content suggestions, AI not only reduces staff workload but also creates richer, more fulfilling experiences for residents.
Creating a deeply connected community
From move-in day to every day, AI can play a key role in personalizing resident engagement. By acting as a smart assistant taking on redundant administrative tasks, AI frees up staff bandwidth to truly connect with residents—listening to their stories, engaging in daily interactions, and facilitating activities with energy and enthusiasm. It’s these personal interactions that make a community feel like a home, where each resident feels supported, seen and valued.
