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Perspectives on egressibility of older people with functional limitations

Smedberg, Erik LU ; Carlsson, Gunilla LU ; Gefenaite, Giedre LU orcid ; Slaug, Björn LU orcid ; Schmidt, Steven M. LU orcid and Ronchi, Enrico LU orcid (2022) In Fire Safety Journal 127.
Abstract

Older people and people with functional limitations are recognized as vulnerable groups when it comes to evacuation. Previous studies have focused mostly on the quantitative aspects of their physical characteristics, such as movement speeds. This study explores the perspectives on egressibility of older people with functional limitations. This was achieved by reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 28 older people with functional limitations. Participants were recruited based on voluntary participation mainly from senior citizen organizations. Inspired by The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, a questionnaire was developed to characterize the sample in terms of presence of... (More)

Older people and people with functional limitations are recognized as vulnerable groups when it comes to evacuation. Previous studies have focused mostly on the quantitative aspects of their physical characteristics, such as movement speeds. This study explores the perspectives on egressibility of older people with functional limitations. This was achieved by reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 28 older people with functional limitations. Participants were recruited based on voluntary participation mainly from senior citizen organizations. Inspired by The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, a questionnaire was developed to characterize the sample in terms of presence of functional limitations. The sample consisted of people with a wide variety of functional limitations. The findings are presented in the form of three themes constructed from the transcripts: Other people's difficulties in understanding, Strategies to cope with the limitation, and Uncertainty of evacuation. The findings highlight that older people may perceive a lack of reliance on the physical environment and other people's support in evacuation situations. Instead, they considered relying primarily on their own ability to mitigate issues caused by functional limitations. The findings may be used to inform future in-depth studies aimed at achieving an equal evacuation safety for all.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ageing, Disability, Evacuation, Functional limitations, Qualitative analysis, Thematic analysis
in
Fire Safety Journal
volume
127
article number
103509
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85121431468
ISSN
0379-7112
DOI
10.1016/j.firesaf.2021.103509
project
Building egressibility in an aging society
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors
id
e088d91a-91e3-4368-84e2-0fdafcbaa5b1
date added to LUP
2022-01-27 08:20:02
date last changed
2024-02-20 20:23:38
@article{e088d91a-91e3-4368-84e2-0fdafcbaa5b1,
  abstract     = {{<p>Older people and people with functional limitations are recognized as vulnerable groups when it comes to evacuation. Previous studies have focused mostly on the quantitative aspects of their physical characteristics, such as movement speeds. This study explores the perspectives on egressibility of older people with functional limitations. This was achieved by reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 28 older people with functional limitations. Participants were recruited based on voluntary participation mainly from senior citizen organizations. Inspired by The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, a questionnaire was developed to characterize the sample in terms of presence of functional limitations. The sample consisted of people with a wide variety of functional limitations. The findings are presented in the form of three themes constructed from the transcripts: Other people's difficulties in understanding, Strategies to cope with the limitation, and Uncertainty of evacuation. The findings highlight that older people may perceive a lack of reliance on the physical environment and other people's support in evacuation situations. Instead, they considered relying primarily on their own ability to mitigate issues caused by functional limitations. The findings may be used to inform future in-depth studies aimed at achieving an equal evacuation safety for all.</p>}},
  author       = {{Smedberg, Erik and Carlsson, Gunilla and Gefenaite, Giedre and Slaug, Björn and Schmidt, Steven M. and Ronchi, Enrico}},
  issn         = {{0379-7112}},
  keywords     = {{Ageing; Disability; Evacuation; Functional limitations; Qualitative analysis; Thematic analysis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Fire Safety Journal}},
  title        = {{Perspectives on egressibility of older people with functional limitations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2021.103509}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.firesaf.2021.103509}},
  volume       = {{127}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}