Aging in Place vs. Relocation for Older Adults with Neurocognitive Disorder: Applications of Wiseman’s Behavioral Model

Abstract

Some older adults are more vulnerable to housing concerns due to physical and cognitive challenges, including those with a neurocognitive disorder who need extensive support. Environmental gerontology frameworks, including Wiseman’s (1980) Behavioral Model of Elderly Migration, have informed scholarship on aging in place and relocation. It remains unclear, however, the extent to which this conceptual work informs services and supports for older adults, and the Wiseman model has not been applied to people with a neurocognitive disorder. Understanding Wiseman’s model, including considerations for working with families confronting a neurocognitive disorder, can help practitioners ensure that older clients live in settings that best meet their wants and needs.

Using the Social Determinants of Health as a Framework to Examine and Address Predictors of Depression in Later Life

“…Providing care in the home, moving to assisted living, and nursing home care as the last resort, will enable elders to maintain their social support systems. Yet, ongoing assessment of the living situation needs to take place in order to intervene when appropriate (Kaplan et al 2015) and to include family members in the development of these plans.…”

“…Additionally, older adults who receive less emotional social support are more likely to experience depression (Thomas 2010). Social support also includes family caregivers who themselves face declines as they age (Kaplan et al 2015). Therefore, assisting elders to foster and utilize their social support networks can positively impact their health outcomes.…”

“…Social categories and life circumstances can impact the health and well-being of individuals over the life span. Evidence has shown that having a social support network is one very effective strategy in mitigating and effectively managing depression as well as promoting and supporting aging in place (Bird et al 2009;Evans 2009;Kaplan et al 2015). Social support would certainly include one's neighborhood or community and it may be worth evaluating this concept separately, especially with the trend towards aging in place.…”

Independent Living Capacity Evaluation in Home-Based Primary Care: Considerations and Outcomes of a Quality Improvement Project

“…To do so, the team recalibrates interventions, enlisting additional disciplines or other services and providers as needed, and evaluates the outcomes of those interventions. This process is co-occurring and often in collaboration with patients’ own periodic reassessment of how their home environment fits their needs (Kaplan, Andersen, Lehning, & Perry, 2015). Patients’ preferences are often to remain in the home as long as possible, and this model works to balance these preferences and values with their basic safety in the home.…”

Multifaceted Factors That Influence the Housing Decision-Making Process: A Pilot Study with Older Adults

“…This situation leads older adults to face the complexity of the so called "binary decision" between remaining at home or relocating to alternative forms of housing [8] to enable better consequences for health and well-being. It is only after the work of Wiseman [9] that the process by which older adults relocates or remains in their own homes and communities drove attention in literature [10]. Many studies investigated the mechanisms that motivate older adults to voluntarily relocate: loss of functional capabilities or care supports [11], lack of financial resources, problems in urban areas (e.g.…”