Adapting the homes of older people: a case study of costs and savings

Baby boomers' use and perception of recommended assistive technology: A systematic review

“…Furthermore, it has been established that the cost to adapt a person's home environment to meet their disability needs can reach only 40% of the cost of residential care [10], further influencing a baby boomers choice to remain at home as they age.…”

“…It is highlighted that the baby boomers want to remain living in their own home and continue participating in their current activities as they age [5][6][7]. Assistive technology (AT) provision is a significant component of occupational therapy practice and is a means of assisting older persons to enhance and maintain their independence [10]. To assist the baby boomers in their pursuit to maintain their independence as they age, a greater need for AT is expected [3,6].…”

Smart home technologies that support independent living: challenges and opportunities for the building industry – a systematic mapping study

“…The installation process is described as labour-costly (Grauel and Spellerberg 2008;Lee et al 2009;Wagner et al 2013), potentially dangerous for the residents if present during the installation (Helal et al 2012), and usually taking short time (Jimenez et al 2013). Again, it is very difficult to find detailed information about adaptation of a home to AAL technologies, especially when it comes to retrofitting (Lansley et al 2004), which adds then the burden of numerous official administrative procedures (van Hoof et al 2010).…”

“…This is dependent both on the building environment, the users and their lifestyle (Suryadevara et al 2013), and on the activities that are intended to be monitored (Sim et al 2010). As such there is no one generic design that can fit all equipped homes, but the locations of hardware devices always need to be carefully investigated in order to avoid negative comments about poor design (Lansley et al 2004). Architects usually consider automation as a 'necessary evil' that should be included as little as possible (Dietrich et al 2010), but in reality installation of intelligent-assistive technologies must be planned well in advance, and this is even more critical for retrofitting already existing building.…”

The home as enabler of more active lifestyles among older people

“…Multiple aspects of the home including layout, internal dimensions and circulation arrangements are identified as potential influences on an older person's ability to perform household tasks (Gitlin, Mann, Tomit, & Marcus, 2001;Oldman, 2002). Home modifications such as level access (Tinker et al, 2007;Lansley et al, 2004a), handrails, grab bars (Gitlin et al, 2001;Peace et al, 2012) and raised toilet seats (Haak, Fä nge, Iwarsson, & Dahlin Ivanoff, 2007) are seen to support these activities (Kim, Ahn, Steinhoff, & Lee, 2014), and tackle risk factors such as falls (Lansley et al, 2004a;Lansley et al, 2004b). Studies in Europe identify such measures as successful and cost-effective (summarized in Tinker, Kellaher, Ginn, & Ribe, 2013).…”