@article{ref1,
title="Improved housing accessibility for older people in sweden and germany: short term costs and long-term gains",
journal="International journal of environmental research and public health",
year="2017",
author="Slaug, Björn and Chiatti, Carlos and Oswald, Frank and Kaspar, Roman and Schmidt, Steven M.",
volume="14",
number="9",
pages="e14090964-e14090964",
abstract="The physical housing environment is important to facilitate activities of daily living (ADL) for older people. A hindering environment may lead to ADL dependence and thus increase the need for home services, which is individually restricting and a growing societal burden. This study presents simulations of policy changes with regard to housing accessibility that estimates the potential impact specifically on instrumental activities of daily living (I-ADL), usage of home services, and related costs. The models integrate empirical data to test the hypothesis that a policy providing funding to remove the five most severe environmental barriers in the homes of older people who are at risk of developing dependence in I-ADL, can maintain independence and reduce the need for home services. In addition to official statistics from state agencies in Sweden and Germany, we utilized published results from the ENABLE-AGE and other scientific studies to generate the simulations. The simulations predicted that new policies that remove potentially hindering housing features would improve I-ADL performance among older people and reduce the need for home services. Our findings suggest that a policy change can contribute to positive effects with regard to I-ADL independence among older people and to a reduction of societal burden.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1661-7827",
doi="10.3390/ijerph14090964",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14090964"
}