Articles
The Journal on Active Aging brings articles of value to professionals dedicated to older-adult quality of life. Content sweeps across the active-aging landscape to focus on education and practice. Find articles of interest by searching the article archives in three ways: Enter a keyword in the articles search bar; click on search by topic; or type a keyword or phrase in the general search bar at the top of the page.
Topic- Environmental wellness
Designing wellness facilities and living environments by Donna Jackel
Choice is the buzzword in today’s housing market for older adults. The challenge, say experts, is how to meet the needs of current clients while building in flexibility for future residents.
The average age that people move into independent living communities is trending upward, rising from 80 to 84 over the past decade,1 according to Edie Smith, senior vice president and research director at Oxford, Mississippi-based ProMatura Group, a full-service market research and advisory firm specializing in age 50-plus consumers. Meanwhile, the needs and desires of the 78 million or so Baby Boomers in the United States2 are influencing everything from building design to dining services.
Environmental wellness
Design strategies support active lifestyles among people living with dementia by Margaret Calkins, PhD, CAPS, EDAC
There is clear and convincing evidence of the benefits of physical exercise on the cognitive performance of older adults, both those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia and those without symptoms of dementia.1–10 You likely agree with the value of continued physical activity, and thus this article will explore how physical and social environments can be designed to encourage people living with all levels of dementia (from very early to later stages) to continue to be physically active.
An encouraging environment includes spaces designed to support specific physical activities, such as gyms, exercise rooms and pools and spaces, as well as adjacencies and amenities that support less structured physical activity. Our focus will be on designing spaces for less structured activity.
Environmental wellness
Engaging older adults in indoor and outdoor environments
Hours have been spent in research, discussions and negotiations. Funding is confirmed, finally. The architect has drawn the final plans, and the building committee signed off. But one question remains: What will encourage older adults to use the places and spaces so carefully diagramed on paper?
It’s the question that should be the final test of any new building project. The investment in a project is measured by how much the new or remodeled building or landscape feature is used by its intended audience. A beautiful patio or walking trail may appear, but what makes it desirable to go outdoors? A modern and well-equipped fitness center is built, but what moves older adults to use it—frequently? New furniture in a new building may appear, but will that alone inspire social interaction?
Environmental wellness
Creating an enhanced return on investment in assisted living communities by Professor Geoffrey Booth and Susan Rodiek, PhD
As we move through the chapters of our lives, patterns of behavior and choice are reinforced, and fond memories of the places that trigger these memories become increasingly important to life satisfaction and well-being. For older adults, times spent in back yards and on family outings are part of these memories. For this reason, assisted living communities that successfully balance the interconnection between the indoor and outdoor living environments can significantly enhance their competitive attraction, reduce the risk to their net cash flows and reinforce their return on investment (ROI).
Getting the balance right between the real estate opportunity, the real estate offer and the return was the subject of research completed in 2011 at the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University’s Center for Health Systems & Design, and soon to be published in the Health Environments Research and Design Journal (HERD).
Environmental wellness
ICAA survey: trends in design for wellness by Patricia Ryan, MS
These are interesting times for providers of services for older adults. The population of “older adults” is already a huge marketplace, and growing. In 2009, along came the economic recession. The income of the oldest adults remains steady, the Baby Boomers have been hit financially, the very poor older adults are still poor, and the wealthy older adults are keeping quiet.
Providers of housing and services—retirement communities, community/seniors centers, some health clubs and hospitals—realize the value of supporting the lifestyles of older adults as well as promoting health and healthcare. Yet, financing has been a challenge over these last years, as banks tightened lending, grantors found their endowments reduced, and governments discovered they were in the red. Like the rest of the people in developed nations, older adults themselves have been somewhat frozen in time, unwilling to lose equity by selling their homes or focused on survival as they slipped into reduced incomes from unemployment. Aging in place has become a hot topic to meet personal preferences as well the reality that the number of older adults in the population requires it.
Environmental wellness
Wildlife habitat enhancement: good for wellness, good for business by Emily Voldstad, MS, and Katie Basiotis, MS
Global biodiversity—the number and variety of species on earth—provides people with numerous necessary resources, including food and medicine. The important role that many species play in our lives makes the conservation of biodiversity crucial. Unfortunately, global biodiversity has been experiencing a dramatic decline, largely as a result of human activity. Despite numerous strategies to address the problem, biodiversity continues to decline.
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