Recipient perspectives on the impact of home adaptations in later life in England

Abstract

The ability for adults to make changes to their home environments as they age to better suit their needs is of increasing importance. It is crucial that the full gamut of impacts from adaptations is understood in order to facilitate comprehensive evaluations which can fully capture their utility. Most previous studies in the field have used a quantitative methodology. Drawing on qualitative interviews, with some informed by wearable camera data, we explore perspectives on the impact of home adaptations from recipients aged 65 and over (n = 30). These are discussed around five themes: restorative outcomes; preventative outcomes; social outcomes; impacts on others; and home perceptions. The research emphasises several under-explored outcomes from adaptations including impacts related to social participation, care provision, relocation, perceptions of the home, service awareness and other household members. We argue that any future evaluation framework needs to comprehensively capture potential outcomes based on the lived experience of recipients in order to fully appreciate both negative and positive impacts from home adaptations.