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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
A supportive home environment is critical to the safety and quality of life of older adults. Home modification is an effective way to build a supportive home environment for older adults’ aging in place. However, there is a lack of knowledge on older adults’ need for home modifications in China. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in three provinces of China (Hubei, Hunan, and Henan) using stratified and cluster sampling methods in 2021. A total of 5485 older adults aged 60 and over were included. The outcome variables were: need for home modifications, level of need, and type of modification needed. Exposure variables included: demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as health conditions. Logistic and Poisson regressions were applied to examine the needs for home modifications and its associated factors. Nearly 30% of the older adults needed home modifications. The most common choice of home modification was the need for handrails at the bedside, toilet, or threshold (31.64%), and paving un-slip tiles or vinyl flooring (17.45%). Age (IRR = 1.01, P < 0.001), education (IRR = 1.11, P < 0.01), and level of assistance (IRR = 2.31, P < 0.001) were more likely to be positively associated with needs for modification. Participants in the age group of 70 to 79 years, with primary school education, and low-level physically dependent had significantly higher needs for modifications than those of advanced age, lower level of education, or higher level of physically dependent (p < 0.01). The overall need for home modifications in China is low. Home modification programs are needed to tailor individuals’ needs and provide services to those with the most home modification need.
Department
Open Access Fund; Nursing
Publication Date
12-1-2023
Journal Title
BMC Geriatrics
Publisher
BioMed Central
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Li, J., Wu, B., & Wang, J. (2023). Creating a supportive environment for older adults in China——Exploring factors associated with the need for home modifications based on a cross-sectional survey in Central China. BMC Geriatrics, 23(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04458-0
Rights
This article is licensed by the authors under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
Comments
This is an Open Access article published by BioMed Central in BMC Geriatrics, available online: https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04458-0