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Improved Housing Accessibility for Older People in Sweden and Germany : Short Term Costs and Long-Term Gains

Slaug, Björn LU orcid ; Chiatti, Carlos LU ; Oswald, Frank ; Kaspar, Roman and Schmidt, Steven M LU orcid (2017) In International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 14(9).
Abstract

The physical housing environment is important to facilitate activities of daily living (ADL) for older people. A hindering environment may lead to ADL dependence and thus increase the need for home services, which is individually restricting and a growing societal burden. This study presents simulations of policy changes with regard to housing accessibility that estimates the potential impact specifically on instrumental activities of daily living (I-ADL), usage of home services, and related costs. The models integrate empirical data to test the hypothesis that a policy providing funding to remove the five most severe environmental barriers in the homes of older people who are at risk of developing dependence in I-ADL, can maintain... (More)

The physical housing environment is important to facilitate activities of daily living (ADL) for older people. A hindering environment may lead to ADL dependence and thus increase the need for home services, which is individually restricting and a growing societal burden. This study presents simulations of policy changes with regard to housing accessibility that estimates the potential impact specifically on instrumental activities of daily living (I-ADL), usage of home services, and related costs. The models integrate empirical data to test the hypothesis that a policy providing funding to remove the five most severe environmental barriers in the homes of older people who are at risk of developing dependence in I-ADL, can maintain independence and reduce the need for home services. In addition to official statistics from state agencies in Sweden and Germany, we utilized published results from the ENABLE-AGE and other scientific studies to generate the simulations. The simulations predicted that new policies that remove potentially hindering housing features would improve I-ADL performance among older people and reduce the need for home services. Our findings suggest that a policy change can contribute to positive effects with regard to I-ADL independence among older people and to a reduction of societal burden.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
volume
14
issue
9
article number
964
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • pmid:28846592
  • scopus:85028451724
  • wos:000411574400016
ISSN
1660-4601
DOI
10.3390/ijerph14090964
project
Home, Health and Disability along the Process of Ageing
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6cc0bc35-e9ac-4e3c-a587-e59401505748
date added to LUP
2017-09-12 11:55:07
date last changed
2025-10-14 09:19:14
@article{6cc0bc35-e9ac-4e3c-a587-e59401505748,
  abstract     = {{<p>The physical housing environment is important to facilitate activities of daily living (ADL) for older people. A hindering environment may lead to ADL dependence and thus increase the need for home services, which is individually restricting and a growing societal burden. This study presents simulations of policy changes with regard to housing accessibility that estimates the potential impact specifically on instrumental activities of daily living (I-ADL), usage of home services, and related costs. The models integrate empirical data to test the hypothesis that a policy providing funding to remove the five most severe environmental barriers in the homes of older people who are at risk of developing dependence in I-ADL, can maintain independence and reduce the need for home services. In addition to official statistics from state agencies in Sweden and Germany, we utilized published results from the ENABLE-AGE and other scientific studies to generate the simulations. The simulations predicted that new policies that remove potentially hindering housing features would improve I-ADL performance among older people and reduce the need for home services. Our findings suggest that a policy change can contribute to positive effects with regard to I-ADL independence among older people and to a reduction of societal burden.</p>}},
  author       = {{Slaug, Björn and Chiatti, Carlos and Oswald, Frank and Kaspar, Roman and Schmidt, Steven M}},
  issn         = {{1660-4601}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{9}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health}},
  title        = {{Improved Housing Accessibility for Older People in Sweden and Germany : Short Term Costs and Long-Term Gains}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14090964}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/ijerph14090964}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}