A Descriptive Study of Home Modifications for People With Dementia and Barriers to Implementation
By Marquart, Gesine; Johnston, Deirdre; Black, Betty S.; Morrison, Ann; Rosenblatt, Adam; Lyketsos, Constantine G.; Samus, Quincy M.; Journal of Housing for the Elderly, Volume 25, Number 3, pages 258-273Publication Date: January 2011
Study explored home environmental features, safety issues, and health related modifications in community dwelling people with dementia. Participants were 82 individuals with dementia and a mean age of 84.5 years, 62 percent of whom were female. Half of participants lived in single family homes, while 28 percent lived in apartments, and 22 percent lived in townhouses. The majority, or 73 percent of participants, lived with a caregiver such as a spouse or child, 13 percent lived alone, and 13 percent lived with someone else. Main barriers to the accessibility of the homes were entrance and interior stairs. The majority of the caregivers had made some modifications, which pertained mainly to physical limitations, including a wheelchair ramp in 10 percent of the homes with front entry steps, an evenly leveled rear entry in 8 percent of the homes, and a stair lift in 20 percent of homes with interior steps. Modifications to bathrooms that included a walk-in shower, handheld shower head or a shower seat were made in nearly half of all homes visited, and 57 percent had grab bars installed. To prevent wandering, a common behavior in people with dementia, 39 percent of caregivers of individuals with moderate dementia reported locking doors or using some form of auditory alert. The use of assistive technologies was very rare, with devices in use being limited to established items such as emergency buttons and baby monitors. The main barrier to the implementation of home modifications to accommodate care recipients’ memory loss was skepticism about their usefulness. Regarding the removal of physical barriers, financial constraints were most frequently cited.
Published by: Routledge, a division of Taylor & Francis Group (Website:http://www.routledge.com)
Link to text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3167170/?tool=pmcentrez
