The impact of residential environment on older people’s capabilities to live independently: a survey in Beijing

Autor: Mengyuan Chen, Gideon Bolt, Pieter Hooimeijer
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: BMC Public Health, Vol 24, Iss 1, Pp 1-14 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-18262-x
Popis: Abstract Background Studies have shown how environmental factors influence older people's health and functional limitations, which are crucial for achieving healthy aging. However, such a healthy aging model has been criticized for defining health as an absence of disease, because chronic conditions cannot be reversed through medical treatments. In response to such critiques, this study refers to Huber's positive health definition, arguing that health should not be defined as the absence of disease but as the ability to adapt and self-manage in the face of social, physical, and emotional challenges. There is a need to develop a community-based approach to healthy aging that considers how the residential environment enables older people to adapt and self-manage. Drawing on Sen's capability approach, this study proposes that such a community-based approach should provide a supportive environment to enable older people's capabilities to live independently. Methods Using hierarchical multiple regression analysis of data from 650 older people (60 years and older) surveyed in Beijing, we unravel which features of the residential environment support older people' s capabilities to live independently and how these impacts differ depending on older people's frailty levels. Results The results show that four environmental factors, namely perceived accessibility (B = 0.238, p
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals