RESEARCH CONCERNING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ELDERLY PEOPLE'S LIFE FUNCTIONS & DISABILITY AND THEIR RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENTS : The development of a residential environment assessment measure in recognizing the importance of their dwelling life

Abstract

This research explored constituting factors, examining their reliability and validity, to develop a general residential environment assessment measure, recognizing the importance of the elderly's dwelling life. Residential environments were categorized into health, efficiency, safety and belonging. Factor analysis results indicated the following in each category: health -"peripheral environments," "temperature and humidity environments," "indoor environments," efficiency-"integrated composition centering around the living room," "bathing" "eating" "wash-up," "mobility," "toileting," safety - "indoor mobility" "indoor mobility with variations" "room lighting" "emergency" belonging - "ownership," "attachment," "privacy." This was found to be a useful assessment measure of residential environments, considering the examination of reliability and validity.