Faculty Publications

Restorative Home Environments For Family Caregivers

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Aging Studies

Volume

23

Issue

3

First Page

197

Last Page

204

Abstract

Caregiver stress negatively affects caregiver health and the overall quality of in-home caregiving. While environmental interventions such as home modifications help caregivers manage stressful functional aspects, interventions for managing stressful emotional aspects are unexplored. Frequently, caregiving responsibilities restrict caregivers' spatial and temporal range of restorative activities to their familial residential environment. In a first attempt to explore the restorative potential of a house in which caregiving occurs, this paper reports experiential attributes of restorative environments from environmental psychology and healthcare design research. It discusses the relevance of restorative attributes to the socio-physical residential context of caregiving using three caregiver needs: need for a temporary escape, meaningful social support, and a sense of control. This conceptual exploration of the restorative potential of the residential caregiving environment offers a base for investigating targeted architectural and functional interventions that might complement current advances in home modifications and respite services. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Department

Department of Design, Textiles, Gerontology, and Family Studies

Original Publication Date

8-1-2009

DOI of published version

10.1016/j.jaging.2007.11.005

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