This is a revised Phase I SBIR application.  The Phase I goals of this SBIR project are to develop a typology that reflects different Special Care Unit (SCU) philosophies and models of care and their correlated organizational policies.  An assessment protocol will be developed and tested that will be used to evaluate the degree of congruence between a facility's desired philosophy/model of care and current operational practices.  This will be accomplished through a literature review, consensus expert review process, and a pretest of the typology and assessment protocol.  To test the validity of this protocol, a sample of settings will be drawn from the NIASCU consortium research projects to include 8 highly rated SCUs in terms of resident, staff, and family outcomes and 8 demographically matched SCUs with low outcomes.  A train-the-trainer program will be created to disseminate this typology in Phase II.  The development of this product that teaches staff to understand and modify operational practices has the potential to enhance the quality of SCU settings.  This assessment protocol will help long-term care organizations develop more cohesive and effective care settings.  The process and much of the information is applicable to other settings.  PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: NOT AVAILABLE