OLDER HOME OWNERS’ AWARENESS AND APPRAISAL OF RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATIONS

摘要

Ageing-in-place policies have been implemented by many Western governments in order to delay and decrease the reliance on expensive institutionalised care. While such policies, as well as a large body of research, support the idea that ageing-in-place contributes to the wellbeing of older adults, ageing-in-place also has its downsides. Health problems and physical limitations can pose hazards within residential environments, such as falling or house fires. One way of dealing with incongruences between older persons and their housing situation is the physical adaptation of the residential environment; either through home modifications or relocation. The Dutch government wants older adults to anticipate on incongruences in the residential environment by making timely changes in order to prevent incidents from happening. However, insight is lacking in older adults’ awareness and perception of such modifications as a strategy to age safely in place and how they view ‘timeliness’ in this respect. The objective of this paper is to understand Dutch older home owners’ appraisal of residential environmental modifications. The results of this research are based on a survey and semi-structured interviews with nine older home owners (aged 55 and above). We use Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour as an interpretative framework for the analysis of the results. The insights provided by this study can provide input for policy makers and professionals in designing interventions to raise awareness amongst older adults about the possibilities for and benefits of timely residential environmental modifications.