IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i11p1951-d236391.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Housing Design and Community Care: How Home Modifications Reduce Care Needs of Older People and People with Disability

Author

Listed:
  • Phillippa Carnemolla

    (School of Built Environment, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney, Harris St, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia)

  • Catherine Bridge

    (Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia)

Abstract

The extent to which housing design can minimise levels of community caregiving has remained largely unmeasured. This paper reports the potential for home modifications to reduce caregiving in the peoples’ homes, particularly older people and people with a disability. It contributes to new knowledge in understanding how housing can play a role in community caregiving and acknowledges the role of the built environment in managing care levels in ageing societies. This paper analyses self-reported care data from 157 Australian community care recipients (average age: 72 years) who had received home modifications within the past 6 months. A before/after comparison of care provided revealed that home modifications reduced hours of care provided by 42% per week. More detailed analysis revealed that the positive association of home modifications with care reduction is stronger with informal care (46% reduction) followed by formal care (16% reduction). These results suggest the role that home modifications, and housing design in general, play in reducing care needs in a community setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Phillippa Carnemolla & Catherine Bridge, 2019. "Housing Design and Community Care: How Home Modifications Reduce Care Needs of Older People and People with Disability," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-12, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:1951-:d:236391
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/1951/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/11/1951/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. K. Bolin & B. Lindgren & P. Lundborg, 2008. "Informal and formal care among single‐living elderly in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 393-409, March.
    2. Van Houtven, Courtney Harold & Coe, Norma B. & Skira, Meghan M., 2013. "The effect of informal care on work and wages," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 240-252.
    3. Emily M. Agree & Vicki A. Freedman & Jennifer C. Cornman & Douglas A. Wolf & John E. Marcotte, 2005. "Reconsidering Substitution in Long-Term Care: When Does Assistive Technology Take the Place of Personal Care?," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 60(5), pages 272-280.
    4. Annamaria Simonazzi, 2009. "Care regimes and national employment models," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(2), pages 211-232, March.
    5. Bonsang, Eric, 2009. "Does informal care from children to their elderly parents substitute for formal care in Europe?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 143-154, January.
    6. Martin Pinquart & Silvia Sörensen, 2007. "Correlates of Physical Health of Informal Caregivers: A Meta-Analysis," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 62(2), pages 126-137.
    7. Korbin Liu & Kenneth G. Manton & Cynthia Aragon, 2000. "Changes in Home Care Use by Disabled Elderly Persons," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 55(4), pages 245-253.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wusi Zhou & Adekunle Sabitu Oyegoke & Ming Sun & Hailong Zhu, 2020. "Older Clients’ Pathway through the Adaptation System for Independent Living in the UK," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-16, May.
    2. Dominika Zawadzka & Natalia Ratajczak-Szponik & Bożena Ostrowska, 2022. "Interdisciplinary Cooperation in Technical, Medical, and Social Sciences: A Focus on Creating Accessibility," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Carlyn Ellison & Linda Struckmeyer & Mahshad Kazem-Zadeh & Nichole Campbell & Sherry Ahrentzen & Sherrilene Classen, 2021. "A Social-Ecological Approach to Identify Facilitators and Barriers of Home Modifications," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-13, August.
    4. Maša Filipovič Hrast & Richard Sendi & Boštjan Kerbler, 2023. "Person–Environment Fit in Urban Neighbourhoods in Slovenia: Challenges and Coping Strategies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-14, March.
    5. Phillippa Carnemolla, 2022. "Apartment Living and Community Care: Experiences of People With Intellectual Disability, Their Families, and Support Staff," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(4), pages 398-408.
    6. Na-Kyoung Hwang & Sun-Hwa Shim, 2021. "Use of Virtual Reality Technology to Support the Home Modification Process: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-17, October.
    7. Ruttana Phetsitong & Patama Vapattanawong, 2022. "Reducing the Physical Burden of Older Persons’ Household Caregivers: The Effect of Household Handrail Provision," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-17, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matteo Lippi Bruni & Cristina Ugolini, 2016. "Delegating home care for the elderly to external caregivers? An empirical study on Italian data," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 155-183, March.
    2. Norma B. Coe & Jing Guo & R. Tamara Konetzka & Courtney Harold Van Houtven, 2019. "What is the marginal benefit of payment‐induced family care? Impact on Medicaid spending and health of care recipients," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 678-692, May.
    3. Max Groneck & Frederic Krehl, 2014. "Bequests and Informal Long-Term Care: Evidence from the HRS Exit Interviews," Working Paper Series in Economics 79, University of Cologne, Department of Economics.
    4. Alberto Pench, 2018. "Intra Generational Solidarity and Long Term Care: A Role for In Kind Transfers," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 35-57.
    5. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Connelly, Luke Brian, 2014. "The effect of unpaid caregiving intensity on labour force participation: Results from a multinomial endogenous treatment model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 115-122.
    6. Joan Costa-Font & Martin Karlsson & Henning Øien, 2015. "Informal Care and the Great Recession," CINCH Working Paper Series 1502, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Competent in Competition and Health, revised Feb 2015.
    7. Justina Klimaviciute & Pierre Pestieau, 2023. "The economics of long‐term care. An overview," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1192-1213, September.
    8. Alexander L. Janus & Alison Koslowski, 2020. "Whose responsibility? Elder support norms regarding the provision and financing of assistance with daily activities across economically developed countries," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 95-108, March.
    9. Raab, Roman, 2017. "Retirement and Informal Care-giving: Behavioral Patterns among Older Workers," Working Papers 2017-08, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    10. Elena Gentili & Giuliano Masiero & Fabrizio Mazzonna, 2016. "The Role of Culture in Long-term Care," IdEP Economic Papers 1605, USI Università della Svizzera italiana.
    11. Norton, E.C., 2016. "Health and Long-Term Care," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 951-989, Elsevier.
    12. Dauth, Christine & Lang, Julia, 2017. "Should the unemployed care for the elderly? : The effect of subsidized occupational and further training in elderly care," IAB-Discussion Paper 201713, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    13. Lang, Julia & Dauth, Christine, 2017. "Should the unemployed care for the elderly? The effect of subsidized occupational and further training in geriatric care," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168130, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Sean Urwin & Yiu‐Shing Lau & Thomas Mason, 2019. "Investigating the relationship between formal and informal care: An application using panel data for people living together," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(8), pages 984-997, August.
    15. Abrahamsen, Signe A. & Grøtting, Maja Weemes, 2019. "Formal Care of the Elderly and Health Outcomes Among Adult Daughters," Working Papers in Economics 2/19, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    16. Shinya Sugawara, 2022. "What composes desirable formal at-home elder care? An analysis for multiple service combinations," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 373-402, April.
    17. Zhang, Wei & Sun, Huiying & L'Heureux, Jacynthe, 2021. "Substitutes or complements between informal and formal home care in the Canadian longitudinal study on aging: Functional impairment as an effect modifier," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(9), pages 1267-1275.
    18. Bauer, Jan Michael & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2015. "Impacts of Informal Caregiving on Caregiver Employment, Health, and Family," IZA Discussion Papers 8851, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Matteo Lippi Bruni & Cristina Ugolini, 2016. "Delegating home care for the elderly to external caregivers? An empirical study on Italian data," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 155-183, March.
    20. Max Groneck, 2017. "Bequests and Informal Long-Term Care: Evidence from HRS Exit Interviews," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(2), pages 531-572.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:11:p:1951-:d:236391. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.