“What? That’s for Old People, that.” Home Adaptations, Ageing and Stigmatisation: A Qualitative Inquiry

Bailey, Catherine, Aitken, Dominic, Wilson, Gemma, Hodgson, Philip, Douglas, Barbara and Docking, Rachael (2019) “What? That’s for Old People, that.” Home Adaptations, Ageing and Stigmatisation: A Qualitative Inquiry. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16 (24). p. 4989. ISSN 1660-4601

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244989

Abstract

Older people, even those living with long-term conditions or poor mobility, can be supported to live well at home, through adapting their home to meet changing need. Installing home adaptations, from grab rails to walk in shower rooms, is cost effective, may prevent falls, reduce social isolation and improve self confidence. Despite austerity cuts to public spending, the UK government increased home adaptations’ funding. However, not much is known about older people’s experiences and understanding of acquiring and living with home adaptations and uptake of home adaptations could be improved. Using wearable camera and face to face interview data, this qualitative study explored a diverse group of older people’s retrospective experiences (n = 30). Focus group discussions were also carried out with a wide range of professionals involved in the provision of home adaptations (n = 39). Findings suggest people may delay having adaptations, because of perceived stigmatising associations with decline and vulnerability. As delaying the installation of home adaptations until crisis point is known to reduce their effectiveness, such associations need to be challenged.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: home adaptations, housing, older people, ageism, healthy ageing, independent living
Subjects: B300 Complementary Medicine
B700 Nursing
B900 Others in Subjects allied to Medicine
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Nursing, Midwifery and Health
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 02 Jan 2020 12:33
Last Modified: 31 Jul 2021 20:17
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41785

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