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Designing for social needs to support aging in place within continuing care retirement communities

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Abstract

With advancing age and disability, continuing care retirement community (CCRC) residents relocate to the next care level as needed. Occasionally, independent living does not offer services a resident needs, yet the resident may not be ready for assisted living. Additionally, since research indicates relocation negatively impacts frail adults’ health/well-being (Bernard et al. 1996), it is reasonable to ask if this approach is optimal. Might aging in place within independent living be more beneficial? Research also shows satisfying social needs is increasingly important to supporting health (Glass et al. 2006) and life satisfaction (Jang et al. 2004) as we age. How then, do we design to support resident social interaction without necessitating relocation? As aging residents experience physical declines such as limited mobility, nearby space designs become increasingly important. This study involving south eastern US, CCRC residents sought to determine how aging in place might be supported by social space designs. Using the Successful Social Space Attribute Model (Campbell 2014) as its organizing framework, this study examined independent and assisted living resident perspectives to identify factors impacting how well social spaces were liked and used, the markers of social space success. For both groups, this study identified two factors: active engagement opportunities (i.e. ways to engage with the environment and other people), and home range (i.e. resident’s daily path of travel). These findings suggest guidelines for designing CCRC social spaces to support aging in place.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Interior Design, University of Florida, P.O. Box 115705, Gainesville, FL, 32611-5704, USA

    Nichole Campbell

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  1. Nichole Campbell
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Correspondence to Nichole Campbell.

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Campbell, N. Designing for social needs to support aging in place within continuing care retirement communities. J Hous and the Built Environ 30, 645–665 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-015-9437-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-015-9437-6

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