Assessing the Quality of Residential Facilities for the Elderly

Abstract

Along with continued graying of society, we have seen growing interest in residential facilities for the elderly and how these facilities can be upgraded and improved from a design standpoint. The purpose of this study is to gain insight into how the quality of life can be supported by enhancing and improving the physical design of the rooms in which they reside. Because many elderly tenants are vulnerable and frail, they predictably find it hard to evaluate their own living environments.This led us to consider the possibility of assessing the quality of residential environments in a way that does not rely on subjective feedback of residents themselves. This can be done by determining whether a room satisfies a certain comfort level for the occupant based on the appearance of the room. We conducted impressionistic assessment trials by objective third-party observers of rooms actually occupied in residential facilities by elderly tenants. Next, we inventoried the number and variety of the furnishings and objects in rooms that serve as an index of a comfortable everyday life of the residents, and compared these findings with the results of the impressionistic assessment trials.The results suggest that it is indeed possible to predict to a degree what furnishing and objects have the greatest effect in creating a well-designed environment and should be incorporated in rooms to house the elderly.