Aging in Place: The Role of Housing and Social Supports

Leon A Pastalan

Oct 2013 · Routledge

About this ebook

In this highly practical volume, the contributing authors explore some of the dimensions associated with aging in place. There are increasing numbers of older Americans who are faced with fundamental changes in their economic circumstances, health, and marital status which have an impact on their ability to age in place. Without the necessary supports many may have no other choice but to be prematurely or inappropriately placed in costly health care facilities or be forced to move into unfamiliar, less safe, less satisfactory housing environments. Aging in Place explores some of the dimensions associated with aging in place and informs readers about unmet needs and available living options for elderly persons. Experts discuss a number of crucial factors regarding the availability of social supports and the impact it has on the independence of the elderly, specifically their living arrangements. They address the issue of control and how access to social contact and real choices about services and facilities increases independence among the elderly; congregate housing as an alternative to nursing care for those elderly too frail for less supportive housing; discharge policies concerning frailty in senior living arrangements; and the lack of a full range of services in many alleged full service communities.

About the author

Leon A. Pastalan, PhD, is Professor of Architecture in the College of Architecture and urban Planning at the University of Michigan. Dr. Pastalan is also Director of the National Center on Housing and Living Arrangements for Older Americans. As a researcher of long standing in the field of environments for the elderly, he is an expert in sensory deficits, spatial behavior, and housing. Dr. Pastalan has published many books and articles resulting from his work, including Man Environment Reference 2 (MER 2), (The University of Michigan Press, 1983), Retirement Communities: An American Original (The Haworth Press, 1984), and most recently, Lifestyles and Housing of Older Adults: The Florida Experience (The Haworth Press, 1989). Dr. Pastalan is also the editor of the Journal of Housing for the Elderly (The Haworth Press).