Housing Standards, Environmental Barriers in the Home and Subjective General Apprehension of Housing Situation among the Rural Elderly

The aim of this study was to describe housing standards, physical environmental barriers in the homes and housing accessibility in relation to elderly people's subjective general apprehension of their housing situation. By means of a novel instrument for home assessments, the Enabler, a rural population sample of individuals aged 75-84 years was surveyed. The results demonstrated that the respondents lived in houses with high housing standards. However, in every home assessed, physical environmental barriers were found. The environmental barrier that was predicted to cause the heaviest environmental demand of all, in relation to the prevalence of functional limitations and dependence on assistive devices for mobility in the sample investigated, was "Lack of handrails at WC/bath-tub/shower". The respondents' subjective general apprehension of their housing was very positive, and not correlated to housing accessibility. In conclusion, inaccessible housing represents a potential public health problem, since it threatens the activity level of older persons. However, other aspects of housing seem to be more important to the elderly people themselves. Housing accessibility problems are currently overlooked but are important to future public planning concerning housing for the elderly.