In Australia, the vast majority of older people, those aged 65 years and over, want to live at their own homes for as long as possible. Older people are, however, vulnerable to extreme conditions, hot or cold, and therefore it is crucial to ensure that the home’s indoor environmental conditions are conducive to their health and well-being. The first step to do this is by understanding the existing conditions in homes of older people so that appropriate steps for improvements can be taken. This paper presents an on-going study to understand the indoor environmental conditions and occupant’s responses in homes of older people in South Australia. The study is conducted using a robust indoor environmental monitoring system that is integrated with a user-friendly occupant survey system using an electronic tablet, allowing the occupants to reflect on their “right here right now” experience over different seasons in a year. The paper discusses the development of this integrated system and reports some preliminary data. Preliminary results showing the associations between measured environmental data, such as dry bulb temperature, radiant temperature, air velocity, and CO2 level, and thermal sensation, comfort, perception of indoor quality and self-reported health/well-being will also be presented.
An important consideration for future age-friendly cities is that older people are able to live in housing appropriate for their needs. While thermal comfort in the home is vital for the health and well-being of older people, there are currently few guidelines about how to achieve this. This study is part of a research project that aims to improve the thermal environment of housing for older Australians by investigating the thermal comfort of older people living independently in South Australia and developing thermal comfort guidelines for people ageing-in-place. This paper describes the approach fundamental for developing the guidelines, using data from the study participants’ and the concept of personas to develop a number of discrete “thermal personalities”. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) was implemented to analyse the features of research participants, resulting in six distinct clusters. Quantitative and qualitative data from earlier stages of the project were then used to develop the thermal personalities of each cluster. The thermal personalities represent different approaches to achieving thermal comfort, taking into account a wide range of factors including personal characteristics, ideas, beliefs and knowledge, house type, and location. Basing the guidelines on thermal personalities highlights the heterogeneity of older people and the context-dependent nature of thermal comfort in the home and will make the guidelines more user-friendly and useful.
Older people are often over-represented in morbidity and mortality statistics associated with hot and cold weather, despite remaining mostly indoors. The study “Improving thermal environment of housing for older Australians” focused on assessing the relationships between the indoor environment, building characteristics, thermal comfort and perceived health/wellbeing of older South Australians over a study period that included the warmest summer on record. Our findings showed that indoor temperatures in some of the houses reached above 35 °C. With concerns about energy costs, occupants often use adaptive behaviours to achieve thermal comfort instead of using cooling (or heating), although feeling less satisfied with the thermal environment and perceiving health/wellbeing to worsen at above 28 °C (and below 15 °C). Symptoms experienced during hot weather included tiredness, shortness of breath, sleeplessness and dizziness, with coughs and colds, painful joints, shortness of breath and influenza experienced during cold weather. To express the influence of temperature and humidity on perceived health/wellbeing, a Temperature Humidity Health Index (THHI) was developed for this cohort. A health/wellbeing perception of “very good” is achieved between an 18.4 °C and 24.3 °C indoor operative temperature and a 55% relative humidity. The evidence from this research is used to inform guidelines about maintaining home environments to be conducive to the health/wellbeing of older people.
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