IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i19p3776-d274129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Senior Co-Housing in the Netherlands: Benefits and Drawbacks for Its Residents

Author

Listed:
  • Katja Rusinovic

    (Faculty of Public Management, Law & Safety, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, 2521 EP The Hague, The Netherlands)

  • Marianne van Bochove

    (Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Jolien van de Sande

    (Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Senior co-housing communities offer an in-between solution for older people who do not want to live in an institutional setting but prefer the company of their age peers. Residents of co-housing communities live in their own apartments but undertake activities together and support one another. This paper adds to the literature by scrutinizing the benefits and drawbacks of senior co-housing, with special focus on the forms and limits of social support and the implications for the experience of loneliness. Qualitative fieldwork was conducted in eight co-housing communities in the Netherlands, consisting of document analysis, interviews, focus groups, and observations. The research shows that co-housing communities offer social contacts, social control, and instrumental and emotional support. Residents set boundaries regarding the frequency and intensity of support. The provided support partly relieves residents’ adult children from caregiving duties but does not substitute formal and informal care. Due to their access to contacts and support, few residents experience social loneliness. Co-housing communities can potentially also alleviate emotional loneliness, but currently, this happens to a limited degree. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for enhancing the benefits and reducing the drawbacks of senior co-housing.

Suggested Citation

  • Katja Rusinovic & Marianne van Bochove & Jolien van de Sande, 2019. "Senior Co-Housing in the Netherlands: Benefits and Drawbacks for Its Residents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-12, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:19:p:3776-:d:274129
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/19/3776/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/19/3776/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anne Labit, 2015. "Self-managed co-housing in the context of an ageing population in Europe," Urban Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 32-45, March.
    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. Joost van Hoof & Hannah R. Marston, 2021. "Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Maria Gabriella Melchiorre & Barbara D’Amen & Sabrina Quattrini & Giovanni Lamura & Marco Socci, 2022. "Caring for Frail Older People Living Alone in Italy: Future Housing Solutions and Responsibilities of Family and Public Services, a Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-29, June.
    3. Pilar Monton & Luisa-Eugenia Reyes & Carlos-María Alcover, 2022. "Personal Characteristics for Successful Senior Cohousing: A Proposed Theoretical Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Katja M. Rusinovic & Marianne E. van Bochove & Suzanna Koops-Boelaars & Zsuzsu K.C.T. Tavy & Joost van Hoof, 2020. "Towards Responsible Rebellion: How Founders Deal with Challenges in Establishing and Governing Innovative Living Arrangements for Older People," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-15, August.
    5. Valentina Barbaccia & Laura Bravi & Federica Murmura & Elisabetta Savelli & Elena Viganò, 2022. "Mature and Older Adults’ Perception of Active Ageing and the Need for Supporting Services: Insights from a Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-20, June.
    6. Amy H. I. Lee & He-Yau Kang, 2019. "A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model for Evaluating Senior Daycare Center Locations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-21, December.
    7. Joost van Hoof & Deirdre M. Beneken genaamd Kolmer & Erwin de Vlugt & Sanne I. de Vries, 2019. "Quality of Life: The Interplay between Human Behaviour, Technology and the Environment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-7, December.
    8. Anna-Maria Lahti & Tuija M. Mikkola & Minna Salonen & Niko Wasenius & Anneli Sarvimäki & Johan G. Eriksson & Mikaela B. von Bonsdorff, 2021. "Mental, Physical and Social Functioning in Independently Living Senior House Residents and Community-Dwelling Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-11, November.

    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. Lidewij Tummers, 2016. "The re-emergence of self-managed co-housing in Europe: A critical review of co-housing research," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(10), pages 2023-2040, August.
    2. Pilar Monton & Luisa-Eugenia Reyes & Carlos-María Alcover, 2022. "Personal Characteristics for Successful Senior Cohousing: A Proposed Theoretical Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-13, February.

    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:19:p:3776-:d:274129. 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.