Ageing at home? Meeting housing, health and social needs

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to consolidate the range of issues relevant to owner occupiers who age in place and to offer an initial overview of how effective partnerships can respond to and meet the changing needs of housing, health and social care of our ageing population. Design/methodology/approach -Issues affecting older people's changing needs are considered holistically and considered in terms of how partnerships can be enhanced to develop improved services in the future. Findings -Most owners wish to stay in their own homes for as long as possible and it can be costeffective to do so; however, we need to look at new and innovative ways of developing and providing front-line services to enhance health and safety in the home, but also quality of life and wellbeing such as combating loneliness and isolation. However, although there are examples of evidence-based good practice, service provision is variable and there is a risk that many older home owners may miss out on services for which they may are eligible. With this in mind, it may be helpful to develop a new framework where one key practitioner holds responsibility to consolidate and coordinate the range of local services available as a package that offers a range of housing, health and social care services. Originality/value -There are currently many policy and practice gaps in older owner occupier's housing conditions and suitability to meet their changing needs. This paper has a particular starting point in housing, and how other personal or technological services can help support independence for as long as possible and adapt to the owner-occupier's changing health and social care needs as they age in place. The authors emphasise the importance of sharing evidence-based good practice partnerships.

Living Environment, Mobility, and Wellbeing among Seniors in the United States: A New Interdisciplinary Dialogue

“…Three papers argue that community-based living settings are not necessarily good for seniors’ wellbeing. For those who live in community settings, especially those who live in suburban single-family houses, despite its cost effectiveness, seniors’ social interaction needs and assisted living are hard to achieve (Bigonnesse, Beaulieu, and Garon 2014; Stewart et al 2014; Turcotte et al 2015). Three studies focus on how living environments meet the health conditions of seniors.…”

Older People’s Preferences for Housing and Environment Characteristics

“…Thus, as people age, their concern for the ability to adapt and remain in their home appears to increase. This is not surprising given that there is extensive research indicating that most older people prefer to continue living in their own home for as long as possible [12,32,34,39]. Home adaptions, specifically in bathrooms, were also found to be a primary concern for older adults in other studies [41].…”

“…Therefore, housing that facilitates healthy ageing has become a priority worldwide [7]. The housing environments of older people are recognized as a key factor in determining their quality of life and health [8][9][10][11][12]. This is particularly so considering that, as people age, they are likely to spend more of their time at home [13].…”

An exploratory study of older customers’ holistic supermarket shopping experience in China

“…As the biggest economy in the world, it has been forecast that China will see an increase of 22% in the proportion of people aged 60 years and over, from 13% (185 million) to 35% (487 million) of the total population between 2012 to 2053 and this increase will be the fastest in the world (World Population Ageing Report, 2013). Because of this substantial global demographic shift, numerous studies have been conducted to improve ageing people's quality of life from multiple perspectives such as public service, transportation services, health and social care, product and service design, and the pension system (Stewart, et al, 2014;Li et al, 2012;Kim et al, 2011). Among these studies, many researchers have highlighted the importance of shopping in older people's day-to-day life and have discussed older customers' shopping behaviour and retail needs (Yin et al, 2013;Thompson et al, 2011;Meneely et al, 2009).…”