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01-09-2017 | Original Investigation

Architectural style and green spaces predict older adults’ evaluations of residential facilities

Authors: Veronica Cerina, Ferdinando Fornara, Sara Manca

Published in: European Journal of Ageing | Issue 3/2017

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of residential facilities’ design features on older adults’ psychosocial responses. Participants (N = 192) were over 65-year-old residents who were randomly exposed to different experimental scenarios concerning a hypothetical residential facility for older adults, using a 3 × 2 between-subjects design (i.e. home-like vs. hotel-like vs. usual-standard architectural style; presence vs. absence of green spaces). After the experimental session, participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire that measured their attitudes towards short- and long-term relocation, anticipated residential satisfaction with the facility, and feelings of broken home attachment. The results showed (1) more positive responses to “home-like” and “hotel-like” architectural styles than the usual-standard type and (2) the positive impact of green spaces on the assessment of the facilities. These design features should thus play a role in both reducing the stressful impact of leaving home and promoting beneficial patterns, hence fostering “successful ageing”.

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Usually, residential facilities in the Italian context are institutional settings where older adults occupy a single (or more rarely, double) room with a bathroom and have access to common services, including food and healthcare.

To avoid a potential confounder, we selected only older adults with no experience of relocation (and not facing an immediate relocation threat) to residential facilities.

Usual-standard facilities are anonymous residential buildings of average to poor quality that do not present any specific design feature or decorative element. The picture used in this study was chosen among similar ones that depicted residential facilities for older adults in various Italian locations. It followed the same parameters of the hotel-like and the home-like pictures (i.e., perspective and building size), differing only in the architectural style.

The reference is to the common residential architectural style in the South Sardinia of the past centuries, that is, the Campidanese house style. It is characterised by specific structural elements, such as (1) a large arched entrance facing the street; (2) an external space typically surrounded by animal barns, warehouses and wine cellars; (3) a well; (4) a courtyard surrounded by living places; (5) a wide internal space; (6) a loggia connecting with the rooms; and (7) an upper floor, used as a warehouse for food or grains (see Atzeni and Sanna 2008).

Initial analyses included age and perceived well-being as covariates, but they were then removed from the analyses since they showed no significant effects on the DVs.

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Title: Architectural style and green spaces predict older adults’ evaluations of residential facilities
Authors: Veronica Cerina
Ferdinando Fornara
Sara Manca
Publication date: 01-09-2017
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: European Journal of Ageing / Issue 3/2017
Print ISSN: 1613-9372
Electronic ISSN: 1613-9380
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-016-0406-z

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Architectural style and green spaces predict older adults’ evaluations of residential facilities

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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