This qualitative inquiry explores the experiences of community-living older people in Australia living in their home environment. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 30 older people, aged 56-90, from three states in Australia. Purposive or maximum variation sampling was used to recruit people with diverse characteristics in terms of age, gender, living situation, dwelling type, tenure and location (urban/rural). Older people in this study stated that they were interested in the capacity of the house to support their many and varied occupations, particularly their ability to care for others. They also enjoyed the independence and autonomy that living in their own home afforded them. The location of the home in the community provided general convenience and offered opportunities for social connectedness. The home environment and the surrounding community also created an ambience and afforded people a particular lifestyle. The importance of the history of the home environment and the emotional connection older people have with the dwelling was another prevalent theme. Future research is recommended to investigate whether these views of the home are representative of other groups of older people and which aspects of the home they seek to retain when adapting their homes or relocating.
Indicators are used in a variety of contexts for exploring community and regional conditions, progress towards goals, and gauging current conditions. We explore the role indicators play in aiding assessment of community well-being, including how they are applied. We consider community well-being to be a comprehensive concept in many dimensions of community life and explore its relations to indicators. Based on ideas around domains and sub-domains as well as relevant indicators, we find that indicators may serve a role in conceptualizing and assessing community well-being. It is a complex undertaking but there exists enough conceptualization and application that a relational framework is proposed with the intent of aiding in tying the use of indicators to assessment of community well-being. Keywords Quality of life. Community well-being. Indicators. Subjective and objective well-being Overview Community indicators can help deepen understanding of complex and interrelated aspects that are inherent in any area where people, nature, economies, politics, and any other dimension of life intersect. Communities are indeed complex by their very nature and represent a full range of interaction and relational effects. Indicators, by their nature, seek to break down these complexities for measurement to foster insight and understanding. This is typically done via subjective and objective data points that
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