Introduction On September 4, 2010, at 4.35 a.m., a shallow 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the South Island of New Zealand, followed by a deadly 6.3 magnitude aftershock on February 22, 2011, centered under the city of Christchurch, which killed 185 people. This research explores the experiences of 12 visually impaired Christchurch residents who lived through more than 12,000 aftershocks throughout 2010 and 2011. The participants shared suggestions about how to be better prepared for such an emergency. Methods Qualitative research involved 12 face-to-face semi-structured interviews conducted in 2011 prior to the fatal February earthquake. In February 2012, seven of the original participants were reinterviewed about how more than a year of earthquakes had affected their lives. Results Participants highlighted the importance of communication and technology, personal and agency support, orientation and mobility, health, rebuilding independence, rehabilitation, coping, and resilience. Discussion Participants demonstrated creative problem-solving abilities, resilience, and community spirit. Findings also indicate that older visually impaired persons are vulnerable in disasters, and that more work needs to be done to prepare communities, agencies, families, and individuals for potential disasters. Implications for practitioners Participants provided suggestions for disaster preparedness for people who have impairments and for the agencies that provide services to people with disabilities.

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This survey of 560 older adults who were visually impaired or sighted analyzed whether the two groups differed in their levels of activity, independence, and life satisfaction and the degree to which activity and independence contribute to the prediction of life satisfaction. Implications for rehabilitation services are discussed. MethodsThe study was conducted in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Massey University Human Ethics Committee, Palmerston North, New Zealand. A questionnaire was administered to all registered members

INTRODUCTION:As older people age and become frail, their decline in independence and concomitant changing care needs may force them to move from retirement village to a residential aged care (RAC) facility. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that contribute to subjective wellbeing among older people living in retirement villages in Aotearoa New Zealand and to compare results with the data from the residents of the care home facilities co-located with the retirement villages. METHOD:This study is mainly quantitative in nature to examine what factors contributed to subjective wellbeing among older people living in retirement villages. Descriptive and regression analyses were used with data collected in 2016 from residents of two retirement villages (N = 163) from one aged residential care provider in Aotearoa New Zealand and they were then compared with already-published data on RAC residents. In addition, four village residents participated in semi-structured interviews. RESULTS:Results showed that retirement village residents reported being generally satisfied with their living environment and their overall wellbeing is positively influenced by their social and psychological milieu. CONCLUSIONS:This research provides insights on what matters most to retirement village residents' subjective wellbeing, which includes a dignified environment enhancing positive mental health, relationship building and reducing loneliness and isolation. Results were also compared with feedback from care home residents co-located in the same estate to provide an indicative picture for comparison against other studies to inform and expand choices for older people to consider when relocating in late-life.

Background Disruptions to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic are well-recognised problems. However, a dearth of research exists on disabled people’s experiences with accessing these services. A scoping review was undertaken to identify and explore research on the experience of disabled people in accessing healthcare services between 2020 and 6 February 2023. Methods PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and OVID were employed to search for research that included the voice of disabled people, or their parents or caregivers. Over two distinct phases, a total of 2,201 articles were reviewed according to article titles, keywords, and abstracts. Eighty-one studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria; these were reviewed in full. Results Eighteen studies specifically described the experiences of accessing healthcare or disability services, and sixty-three raised healthcare challenges as a secondary consideration. Many disabled people struggled to access healthcare services and felt they were invisible; as a result, individuals’ mental health was negatively affected. Disabled people with compounding vulnerabilities were at the most risk of experiencing a lack of healthcare access. Conclusions There is an urgent need for research and policy that is responsive to disabled people’s access to healthcare during the pandemic; currently many health policies are ‘disability-blind’ and exclude these members of the global community. Furthermore, to assist in creating disability-responsive research, funding needs to prioritise researchers within the disabled community.

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A study involving older New Zealanders (aged 65?) explored levels of life satisfaction reported by groups with and without impaired vision as well as factors contributing to and detracting from quality of life (QOL). Those with impaired vision (n = 135) had a visual acuity of 6/24 (i.e., 20/80) or worse in the better eye with corrective lenses, or a field of vision not greater than 20°at its widest diameter and had a mean age of 82.3 (SD = 6.76). Those with no significant impairment of vision (n = 425) were able read newsprint and legally drive and had a mean age of 74 (SD = 6.49). Overall, those with impaired vision reported a significantly lower level of life satisfaction in comparison to their sighted peers. There was a significant interaction effect of vision status and age, such that those with impaired vision aged 85? reported life satisfaction scores higher than those reported by their sighted peers. Family and friends emerged as most important contributors to QOL for the vision-impaired group, where good health was the primary contributor to those with sight. Detractors to QOL reported by those with impaired vision included poor vision, inability to drive and poor health. Those with no significant impairment of vision reported poor health, physical impairment and poor finances detracted from QOL. Results could enable ageing and rehabilitation service providers to design rehabilitation programmes addressing areas reported to be most important to older adults with and without impaired vision.

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