The environmental temperature of the residential care home: Role in thermal comfort and mental health?

Abstract

Background: In the midst of changing environmental conditions and increasing populations aged over 65 years, how best to provide nursing care that promotes mental health and wellbeing within residential aged care facilities is an important concern. Aim/Objective: To explore the perceptions of temperature control, thermal comfort and nursing care in a small group of older Australians. Design: Descriptive, qualitative study using thematic analysis. Methods: Individual semi-structured interviews (March to April 2017) were conducted with a group of older Australians who live within an aged care facility in NSW, Australia. Interviews were taped, transcribed and then analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Five adults (three male and 2 female) participated. Themes emerging included: (1) Reliance on habitual behaviour to cope with temperature; (2) The importance of mobility to cope with temperature; (3) Balancing nursing care and resident autonomy. The importance of experiencing a sense of choice and ability to self-regulate personal environment arose as a substantial concern. Conclusions: The attention of older residents to personal issues related to thermal comfort linked to physical and mental health emphasise the importance of concerns regarding mobility, nursing care and autonomy. For older age residents the interplay between thermal comfort and behaviour adaptation is influenced by nurses and their control of the residential environment.

Multi-Season Assessment of Occupant Responses to Manual Shading and Dynamic Glass in a Workplace Environment

“…In today's buildings, the importance of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) has been increasing, especially the factors of thermal and visual quality, due to its significant impacts on occupants' productivity, health, and quality of life [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. This indoor environmental significance has motivated numerous design and technology advancements, especially as applied to modern building environmental controls.…”

Thermal Sensation in Older People, with and without Dementia, Living in Residential Care: New Assessment Approaches Using Infrared Thermography

“…Thirty-four residents were assigned to 'dementia' category, (D) and 35 residents, (ND) ( Table 1). (6,9,11,12) were visited twice.…”

“…Whilst International standards are available, their use has largely been focused on determining thermal comfort of the workforce, in offices, and factories. Much less is known about thermal comfort in the old and very old living in residential care [8,9] [10]. The need for new perspectives on thermal sensation and thermal comfort in older age is now appreciated [3,[11][12][13] particularlry given that the changes that occur in the the nervous system associated with ageing leads to a decrease ('blunting') of thermal sensitivity and thermal perception [14] especially in response to cold stimuli [15] which is most pronouned at the extremities and follows a distal-proximal pattern [16].…”

Thermal Sensation in Older People with and without Dementia Living in Residential Care: New Assessment Approaches to Thermal Comfort Using Infrared Thermography

“…Whilst international standards are available, their use has largely been focused on determining thermal comfort of the workforce in offices and factories. Much less is known about thermal comfort in the old and very old living in residential care [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. The need for new perspectives on thermal sensation and thermal comfort in older age is now appreciated [ 3 , 11 , 12 , 13 ] particularly given that the changes that occur in the nervous system associated with ageing leads to a decrease (‘blunting’) of thermal sensitivity and thermal perception [ 14 ] especially in response to cold stimuli [ 15 ] which is most pronounced at the extremities and follows a distal-proximal pattern [ 16 ].…”