Ageing at home - are we prepared?

The design of the home is critical in allowing older people to continue to live independently. This can only occur if the home is barrier free and supports physical frailties. Most people who wish to live independently as they age in Australia will need to modify their existing homes in some way to...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Spanbroek, Nancy, Karol, Elizabeth
Format: Conference Paper
Published: 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20639
_version_ 1848750363686993920
author Spanbroek, Nancy
Karol, Elizabeth
author_facet Spanbroek, Nancy
Karol, Elizabeth
author_sort Spanbroek, Nancy
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The design of the home is critical in allowing older people to continue to live independently. This can only occur if the home is barrier free and supports physical frailties. Most people who wish to live independently as they age in Australia will need to modify their existing homes in some way to suit their frailties. However the cost of home modifications can not always be met given the 'asset rich, income poor' ageing group and as one enters old age it becomes more difficult to maintain the home. Maintenance problems include affordability, not recognizing problems, not having the energy or expertise to do anything about them, a lack of knowledge about reputable builders and an inability to organize and supervise the work and check that it has been done properly.This paper addresses the issues of independent living for the baby boomer population within a well-established suburb of Perth, Western Australia. A survey was carried out in 2004 to identify the number of baby boomers wishing to age in place, whether their existing homes were suitable for ageing in place, the modifications required to make the homes suitable, at what stage of life such modifications should be made and whether the baby boomers were prepared to make these modifications. The findings show that, in Perth, typical housing will not support ageing in place without significant investment in building modifications. More significantly it appears that the baby boomer occupants are not aware of this looming barrier to ageing in place.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T07:35:39Z
format Conference Paper
id curtin-20.500.11937-20639
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:35:39Z
publishDate 2006
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-206392017-01-30T12:20:15Z Ageing at home - are we prepared? Spanbroek, Nancy Karol, Elizabeth interior design independent living aged The design of the home is critical in allowing older people to continue to live independently. This can only occur if the home is barrier free and supports physical frailties. Most people who wish to live independently as they age in Australia will need to modify their existing homes in some way to suit their frailties. However the cost of home modifications can not always be met given the 'asset rich, income poor' ageing group and as one enters old age it becomes more difficult to maintain the home. Maintenance problems include affordability, not recognizing problems, not having the energy or expertise to do anything about them, a lack of knowledge about reputable builders and an inability to organize and supervise the work and check that it has been done properly.This paper addresses the issues of independent living for the baby boomer population within a well-established suburb of Perth, Western Australia. A survey was carried out in 2004 to identify the number of baby boomers wishing to age in place, whether their existing homes were suitable for ageing in place, the modifications required to make the homes suitable, at what stage of life such modifications should be made and whether the baby boomers were prepared to make these modifications. The findings show that, in Perth, typical housing will not support ageing in place without significant investment in building modifications. More significantly it appears that the baby boomer occupants are not aware of this looming barrier to ageing in place. 2006 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20639 fulltext
spellingShingle interior design
independent living
aged
Spanbroek, Nancy
Karol, Elizabeth
Ageing at home - are we prepared?
title Ageing at home - are we prepared?
title_full Ageing at home - are we prepared?
title_fullStr Ageing at home - are we prepared?
title_full_unstemmed Ageing at home - are we prepared?
title_short Ageing at home - are we prepared?
title_sort ageing at home - are we prepared?
topic interior design
independent living
aged
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20639