A new framework and free industry benchmark designed to help senior living communities eliminate resident isolation by moving beyond attendance-based engagement measurement
CENTENNIAL, Colo., June 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Quiltt, an Alpine Media Technology company, today announced the publication of an industry framework for understanding and measuring resident engagement, alongside a free industry benchmark that any community can complete in about three minutes.
Quiltt, the creator of the senior living industry’s first Resident Engagement Intelligence System (REIS), developed the framework and validated it in partnership with the National Association of Activity Professionals (NAAP) and Dr. Rob Winningham, a nationally recognized gerontology and brain health expert.
POSITIONING STATEMENT
REIS is purpose-built to address one of senior living’s most consequential and least-measured problems: the isolation of residents inside their own communities.
THE PROBLEM REIS WAS BUILT TO SOLVE
Social isolation among older adults is one of the most significant health threats in senior living. It is associated with cognitive decline, depression, and increased mortality. Yet most communities cannot see it happening until it has already caused harm.
The reason is the way engagement has been measured. For more than two decades, the industry has tracked engagement primarily through one lens: attendance at group activities. Research published in Activities, Adaptation & Aging found that assisted living residents attended a mean of 21 percent of offered programmed activities, and 15 percent attended no programmed activities at all in a given week. Attendance-based measurement reflects only a fraction of community life and often misses the residents most at risk of disappearing into isolation entirely.
The new framework was developed to give communities the visibility to see isolation as it begins, and the intelligence to act on it.
That intelligence requires more than tracking what happened. Quiltt is the first resident engagement platform to move beyond being a system of record and become a system of awareness. The shift turns a team’s focus from the calendar to the resident, helps them see who needs attention now and why, and equips communities to recognize isolation before it becomes clinical.
ROOTED IN PRACTITIONER EXPERIENCE
The framework was developed by Mathew Guilfoyle, COO of Quiltt, who previously served as President of Activity Connection for nearly a decade, working alongside thousands of life enrichment professionals across the country. It was validated in partnership with NAAP and Dr. Rob Winningham.
“For nearly a decade I have worked alongside the activity and life enrichment professionals who are the heart of senior living. They have always known their work changes lives. What they have not had is a framework that proves it,” said Guilfoyle, COO of Quiltt. “This work is built around a simple belief: the resident, not the calendar, should be the focal point of modern engagement software. And the people closest to those residents deserve the tools to keep them from disappearing.”
THE FIVE DIMENSIONS AND SIX SIGNALS
The framework defines five dimensions a community must address to move from attendance tracking to true engagement intelligence: Engagement Visibility, Resident Understanding, Early Signs of Disconnection, Engagement Intervention, and Engagement Infrastructure.
It is informed by six Engagement Intelligence Signals already produced inside communities but rarely captured: Participation, Social, Mood, Life Story, Life Events, and Behavioral. Two of these (Life Story and Life Events) require knowing residents personally, not just observing them, and distinguish the framework from traditional wellness scoring.
“This newly established resident engagement intelligence framework goes beyond simply measuring attendance and looks at the systems in place related to how we learn about and respond to residents’ individual and unique needs,” said Dr. Rob Winningham.
A NEW STANDARD FOR THE PROFESSION
Engagement is care. It’s not an amenity. It’s not a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between a resident who thrives and one who slips through the cracks. The framework finally gives activity professionals the standardized tools to demonstrate the impact of their work with the same clarity and credibility as any clinical discipline.
“This framework and benchmark represent a defining step forward for the activity profession, shifting engagement from something we do to something we can clearly demonstrate, measure, and elevate. Linking life story, life events, and daily engagement to outcomes validates the profession, strengthens care, and elevates quality of life,” said Alisa Tagg, Association Director, NAAP.
THE BENCHMARK
The Resident Engagement Intelligence Benchmark, available now at quiltt.com/resident-engagement-intelligence-benchmark, scores any community across all five dimensions in approximately three minutes. It is designed to serve as an annual wellness check for engagement operations: a baseline, an opportunity map, and a starting point for change.
ABOUT QUILTT
Quiltt is the senior living technology company that developed the Resident Engagement Intelligence framework and built the industry’s first Resident Engagement Intelligence System (REIS). REIS exists to end resident isolation in senior living. The Quiltt platform places each resident’s story, interests, life events, and engagement signals at the center of community life, giving care teams the intelligence to know who needs connection, why, and how to help. Quiltt is the Feel Good Choice for senior living communities that believe engagement is care.
Quiltt is part of Alpine Media Technology. Learn more at www.quiltt.com.
MEDIA CONTACT
Garin Gustafson
success@quiltt.com
www.quiltt.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/93f16b99-c43a-4811-9142-6e3e89dacac0
