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  • Designing a safe and inclusive housing environment for older adults [Elektronski vir] : assessment of nursing home preparedness for post-COVID era
    Žegarac Leskovar, Vesna ; Skalicky Klemenčič, Vanja
    The main objective of the study is to verify whether architectural design elements afect mental and physical health from the perspective of nursing homes’ preparedness to face unpredictable ... situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which gave rise to the need of rethinking the design of nursing homes to provide quality living environments that enable older adults to live healthy, safe, and socially inclusive lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing homes were among the most critical types of housing. Various safety measures were taken to protect the physical health of residents, which, at the same time, had a negative impact on their mental health, mainly due to isolation and social distancing. The current study was carried out using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. A literature review, a detailed analysis of selected nursing homes, an online survey of nursing home managers, and on-site work served as the basis for the development of the comprehensive design quality assessment tool “Safe and Connected”, which was further tested on four selected case studies. The cases were selected on the basis of seven independent variables, i.e. nursing home capacity, residential density, foor area, the year of construction and typology, purpose-built construction regarding use and location, and one dependent variable, i.e. nursing home infection rate. The assessment results of the SC tool were verifed against two additional analyses: infection rate data and a resident quality of life survey. The results show the coincidence of the “Safe and Connected” design quality marks and rates of infected residents and quality of life survey results for the observed nursing homes. It can be concluded that the design of the residential environment is identifed as one of the possible factors infuencing the quality of life in nursing homes. Furthermore, understanding the architectural design elements involved in the perception of risks for, and well-being of, residents may be helpful for decision makers, managers, architects, and investors to make sensible decisions when planning and maintaining nursing home facilities in the post-COVID era.
    Vir: Journal of housing and the built environment. - ISSN 1573-7772 (Published: 27 December 2023, 33 str.)
    Vrsta gradiva - e-članek ; neleposlovje za odrasle
    Leto - 2023
    Jezik - angleški
    COBISS.SI-ID - 181188611
    DOI

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