Home is the desired site of care for most adults in the US (Eckert, Morgan & Swamy, 2004). The number of older adults who potentially require supportive care at home is rapidly growing. Our current healthcare infrastructure must evolve to accommodate the preference for homecare. This investigation will provide quantitative testing of a qualitatively-derived model called Maintaining the Balance (MTB) developed by Jacelon (2010). MTB describes the factors that drive a community-dwelling older adult’s ability to achieve OW in the home environment. Secondary analysis of data collected for the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) was utilized. Path analysis technique was employed to explore the effect of the 5 balance variables: health, activity, autonomy, attitude, and relationships on the outcome variable of OW. Attitude was the variable with the largest effect on OW. Activity, health, and relationships also had significant effects on OW. Autonomy and age were non-significant factors. The hypothesized model was partially supported by the NSHAP dataset.