TY - JOUR
T1 - Changes in Home and Health over Nine Years among very Old People in Latvia – Results from the ENABLE-AGE Project
AU - Löfqvist, Charlotte
AU - Tomsone, Signe
AU - Iwarsson, Susanne
AU - Horstmann, Vibeke
AU - Haak, Maria
N1 - Funding Information:
The original project was funded by the European Commission (QLRT-2001-00334). Additional funding was provided by the ScandBalt Bridge Award, the Swedish Research Council and the Ribbingska Foundation in Lund, Sweden. In addition, thanks are extended to the Latvian Association of Occupational Therapists. This study was accomplished within the context of the Centre of Ageing and Supportive Environments (CASE), Lund University, funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare (FORTE).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, The Author(s).
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - To meet the needs of an increasing, heterogeneous, ageing population it is imperative to understand links between home and health. In Latvia, only limited research targeting the health and home situation of very old people is available. Consequently, the aim of this study was to describe how the home environment and aspects of health have changed over nine years between 2002 and 2011 for very old people in Latvia, living in their home environment. This study is based on the Latvian part of the cross-national European ENABLE-AGE Project comprising data on objective, as well as perceived, aspects of home and health. Longitudinal data from those involved on both data collection occasions (N = 59) was used. At the nine-year follow-up, participants were between 86 and 90 years of age, still living in their own homes. The results show that not only health aspects varied along the ageing process, objective and perceived aspects of home also changed. The physical as well as the cognitive and emotional bonding to the home significantly increased i.e. aspects of meaning such as familiarity and feeling safe in your home, privacy and independence became more important for the very old participants over time. Life satisfaction increased over the years even though objective health factors decreased. Since aspects of home as well as health can be assumed to impact on the outcome of ageing, the situation for this age group in Latvia must be further studied in order to develop suitable and appropriate social and health services, policies and living conditions.
AB - To meet the needs of an increasing, heterogeneous, ageing population it is imperative to understand links between home and health. In Latvia, only limited research targeting the health and home situation of very old people is available. Consequently, the aim of this study was to describe how the home environment and aspects of health have changed over nine years between 2002 and 2011 for very old people in Latvia, living in their home environment. This study is based on the Latvian part of the cross-national European ENABLE-AGE Project comprising data on objective, as well as perceived, aspects of home and health. Longitudinal data from those involved on both data collection occasions (N = 59) was used. At the nine-year follow-up, participants were between 86 and 90 years of age, still living in their own homes. The results show that not only health aspects varied along the ageing process, objective and perceived aspects of home also changed. The physical as well as the cognitive and emotional bonding to the home significantly increased i.e. aspects of meaning such as familiarity and feeling safe in your home, privacy and independence became more important for the very old participants over time. Life satisfaction increased over the years even though objective health factors decreased. Since aspects of home as well as health can be assumed to impact on the outcome of ageing, the situation for this age group in Latvia must be further studied in order to develop suitable and appropriate social and health services, policies and living conditions.
KW - Age/ageing
KW - Demography
KW - Health planning
KW - Health services
KW - Public health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85007497664&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10823-016-9311-3
DO - 10.1007/s10823-016-9311-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 28028743
AN - SCOPUS:85007497664
SN - 0169-3816
VL - 32
SP - 17
EP - 29
JO - Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology
JF - Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology
IS - 1
ER -