Senior’s want to remain at home
Research by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), www.aarp.org:
- Nearly 90 percent of seniors want to stay in their own homes as they age, often referred to as “aging in place.”
- Even if seniors begin to need day-to-day assistance or ongoing health care during retirement, most seniors (82%) prefer to stay in their homes.
Only a few seniors show a preference in moving to a nursing care facility where care is provided (9%) or a preference in relocating to live in a relative’s home (4%). - Living under one’s own rules is a key reason for staying in one’s own home, for 42% of seniors.
- Most pre-retirees expect they will be able to live independently during their retirement years.
- Few pre-retirees (14%) expect they will need day-to-day assistance or ongoing health care at any point during their retirement.
- Thinking about parents’ getting older is on the minds of most adult children (88%) and older parents (75%).
- More than half of the adult children (54%) think their parents will need their help but less than three in ten (27%) older parents agree.
- 75% of adult children and 69% of parents think about the parents’ ability to live independently as they get older.
AARP has also identified home features that seniors find especially important in the later years as they begin to experience reduced eyesight, poorer balance, reduced flexibility, etc.:
o Safety features such as non-slip floor surfaces (80%)
o Bathroom aides such as grab bars (79%)
o A personal alert system that allows people to call for help in emergencies (79 percent)
o Entrance without steps (77%)
o Wider doorways (65%)
o Lever-handled doorknobs (54%)
o Higher electrical outlets (46%)
o Lower electrical switches (38%)
Here is what seniors say are their reasons that they have made adaptable living modifications to their homes:
o 70% said they did so for safety reasons
o 65% wanted to make the home easier to use by all family members
o 60% wanted to increase their ability to live independently
o 55% wanted to provide flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of family members