This study was designed to gain more insight into the combination of indoor environmental parameters in nursing homes and their influence on the quality of life of the elderly.
Vulnerable elderly people suffering from a psychogeriatric condition often require institutional care and therefore live in nursing homes. In nursing homes they spend most of their time indoors. In addition, elderly people have an altered sensitivity to indoor environmental parameters (light, acoustics and indoor air quality (IAQ)). The aim of this field study is to describe the current IE parameters and investigate how the indoor climate in the nursing home can be improved with a view to the quality of life of the residents and the well-being of the healthcare professionals.
To describe the acoustics in the rooms, the following parameters were used: background noise level, reverberation time and the speech transmission index. Light measurements, including horizontal and vertical illuminance at relevant positions and viewing directions, were carried out to describe the lighting conditions in the communal living rooms. Indoor air quality (IAQ) was measured by CO2 levels and by recording reports of outbreaks of notifiable infections.
The results of the measurements were used as a guideline for redesigning a communal living room in the participating nursing home.
Researcher
Helianthe Kort
Relevant literature and references
Creating Reciprocal Value Propositions – The case of the improvement of the quality of life of dementia patients and their caregivers – Elke den Ouden. Paper presented at the 4th World Conference on Design Research, Delft, October/November 2011.
ERCM HUISMAN, HSM KORT. The effect of the indoor environment on the quality of life of older people. Gerontechnology 2016;15(suppl):84s; doi:10.4017/gt.2016.15.s.724.00
NHAM van Hout, CCJM Hak, S. Seuren, HSM Kort. Acoustic measurements of sound levels in common rooms and sleeping rooms of care facilities for older adults. Gerontechnology 2014; 13(2):86-87 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4017/gt.2014.13.02.156.00
Huisman ERCM, Aarts MPJ, Van Kemenade PLW, Kort HSM Quality of light in a long-term facility in the Netherlands. Gerontechnology 2014;13(2):85-86 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4017/gt.2014.13.02.180.00
Kulve, M., Loomans, MGLM, Huisman ERCM, Kort HSM, Indoor Air in Long Term Care Facilities and Spread of Infectious Diseases. Conference Paper 2014. Indoor Air, the 13th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, 7-12 July 2014 Hong Kong
Aarts MPJ, Huisman ERCM, Mattheus B, Kort HSM, 'Studying health effects of light on elderly people with dementia, methodology considerations'. Poster presentation, Society of Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms, June 27-29, 2014, Vienna.