Planning for the Future or Feeling Old - Older People’s Reasons for Moving to Senior Housing in Sweden

Moving accommodation in old age challenges the idea of aging in place. This study describes older people’s (M = 80 years) reasons for moving to senior housing in Sweden and whether different reasons were related to the participants’ background characteristics.

Managing Possessions in Late Life While Aging-In-Place: Is the Answer to Tolerate, Facilitate, or Liquidate?

Within aging-in-place inquiry, an issue which warrants consideration, and has begun to garner focus, is the negative impact that voluminous amounts of amassed material possessions can have on older people within their homes.

Home and Community Features, Perceived Age-Friendliness, and Intention Toward Aging in Place

Promoting age-friendliness of communities and supporting aging in place (AIP) are of great importance in aging societies. However, little is known about the mechanism linking home and neighborhood features, older adults’ global assessment of community, and their willingness to age-in-place despite the importance in developing policies and interventions. This study used the 2015 AARP Age-Friendly Community Survey, which includes 66 home and neighborhood features under the eight domains specified by the WHO’s Age-Friendly Cities Guidelines. A series of linear regression models were estimated to examine the interrelationship between the availability of age-friendly features in eight domains, perceived age-friendliness of community, and intention toward AIP. Overall, a greater availability of age-friendly features was positively associated with perceived age-friendliness of community and AIP intention. The relationship between age-friendly features and AIP intention was mediated by perceived age-friendliness of community (50.3% to 96% of the total effects). When perceived age-friendliness of community was introduced to models, the direct effects of housing, outdoor spaces and buildings, and transportation domains remained significant. Findings suggest that a greater availability of age-friendly features influence older adults’ perception on their community, leading to the development of a desire to age-in-place. Domains of housing, outdoor spaces and buildings, and transportation may be the most importance features in promoting age-friendliness of community and the key determinants of aging-in-place. Policy makers and practitioners may need to prioritize promoting age-friendly built environment before social environment in building age-friendly communities.

Technology is the New Normal for Individuals Aging-In-Place With Disabilities

Technology designers often exclude individuals aging with diverse needs, capabilities, and disabilities from engaging in the design process, which can hinder the usability and usefulness of emerging technologies. In this symposium, investigators report on research and development efforts aimed at understanding the needs of, and developing supportive technologies for, people aging with long-term disabilities. This symposium features projects from the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technologies to Support Aging-in-Place for People with Long-Term Disabilities (RERC TechSAge), which is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Georgia Tech and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. First, Bayles et al. will discuss findings from the Aging Concerns, Challenges, and Everyday Solution Strategies II study, focused on Deaf older adults’ use of technologies as solution strategies for common everyday challenges. Next, Mitzner et al. will highlight the development of an evidence-based group exercise intervention (Tellewellness Tai Chi for Arthritis) aimed at promoting both physical exercise and social interaction for older adults with long-term mobility disabilities. Kadylak et al. will describe how voice-activated digital assistants can support older adults aging with mobility disabilities by reporting on findings from a longitudinal demonstration project with older adults in assisted and independent living communities. Exploring the potential for smartbathroom technology to promote aging in place, Sanford et al. will discuss how smartbathroom sensor data can be analyzed and vizualized to identify ways to communicate insight from sensor data to improve training of occupational therapy practitioners. Susy Stark from Washington University will serve as the discussant for the symposium.

Re-Envisioning Aging in the Right Place to Disrupt Homelessness for Older People

Recent developments in the aging-in-place literature have recognized the significance of aging-in-the-right-place. That is, aging in a place that supports an individual’s unique values, vulnerabilities, and lifestyles. This symposium will build upon existing research by critically examining the potential for older persons with experiences of homelessness (OPEH) and/or housing insecurity to age-in-the-right-place. Presenters will include interdisciplinary researchers with a diversity of perspectives stemming from gerontology, social work, and environmental design. The symposium will begin with Weldrick and Canham presenting a conceptual framework for aging-in-the-right-place that has been developed to outline indicators relevant to OPEH and housing-insecure older people. Elkes and Mahmood will then discuss findings from a study of service providers working with OPEH to consider the relative benefits and challenges of temporary housing programs. Following, Brais and colleagues will present findings from an environmental audit, developed as a novel assessment tool to evaluate the accessibility and physical design of housing programs for OPEH. A final presentation by Kaushik and Walsh will highlight findings from a photovoice study on perspectives of aging-in-the-right place among OPEH during the Covid-19 pandemic. Joyce Weil, an expert in measurement of person-place fit and life course inequalities, will discuss the implications of these papers and reflect on the potential for the aging-in-the-right-place framework to address the diverse needs of the growing population of OPEH through policy and practice. Together, the participants of the symposium will advance this emerging scholarship using a wide range of methods and perspectives.

Feasibility and Acceptability of VideoChat During Meals in Adults Aging in Place of Average Age 88

Older adults in the United States prefer to age-in-place. However, living and eating alone are risk factors for malnutrition. Using videochat during mealtimes, i.e., VideoDining, can provide commensality and social facilitation to improve nutritional intake. The objective of this study was to determine if older adults aging-in-place can independently VideoDine with family or friends. We recruited eleven older adults from Full Circle America Steuben, a virtual assisted living program for adults aging-in-place in rural New York. All participants had Amazon EchoShow devices for videochat. Participants were instructed on VideoDining and asked to independently schedule four VideoDine sessions with a family/friend in four weeks. Surveys were collected at baseline, after VideoDine sessions, and end-of-study. Participants were 91% female and 100% white. The average age was 88 years. All participants were widowed and living alone except for one married couple. Overall, 45% of participants VideoDined four times, 36% of participants VideoDined two to three times, and 27% not at all, for an average of 2.7 sessions in a month. Participants VideoDined during all meals, although dinner was most common (66% of meals), and breakfast least common (12% of meals). Average comfort was rated 7.6/10 (1=not comfortable, 10=comfortable), median enjoyment was 9.3/10 (1=not enjoyable, 10=enjoyable), and median ease of VideoDining was 4.1/5 (1=very difficult, 5=very easy). On average, participants rated their VideoDining meal experience a 7.6/10 (1=poor, 10=excellent). With access to videochat technology, older adults can connect with a dining partner and have a favorable experience sharing a meal over videochat.

Increased Self-Efficacy among Older Adults Aging-in-Place during COVID-19

Self-efficacy is defined as a person's belief in their capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments. It also reflects confidence in the ability to exert control over motivation, behavior, and environment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults were stressed with forced isolation, concerns over mortality, and finding alternate means of fulfilling their home-based needs. We sought to assess how COVID-19 pandemic affected the self-efficacy of a cohort of older adults aging-in-place. The LITCOG cohort is a group of community-dwelling older adults (65 years and older) who have had longitudinally assessment of cognition, health literacy, and functional skills over the past 15 years. As part of a larger study of the LITCOG cohort assessing decision making for aging-in-place, we assessed self-efficacy using validated PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) measures with older adults prior to COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey results were obtained from 214 subjects (n=66 pre-COVID and n=148 during COVID). Nearly half of the sample (48.2%) had either marginal (25.5%) or low health literacy (22.7%). PROMIS General Self Efficacy was higher among those assessed during the COVID-19 pandemic (45.8 (7.7) pre-COVID vs 43.7 (8.0), p=0.07). PROMIS Self Efficacy for managing social interactions was higher during the COVID pandemic (45.0 (6.1) pre-COVID-19 vs. 48.7 (8.3) during COVID-19, p=0.02). During the stress and social isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults exhibited increased levels of self-efficacy. Ongoing longitudinal follow-up will determine how this self-efficacy evolves after the COVID-19 pandemic and impacts the ability to age-in-place.