Physical environmental designs in residential care to improve quality of life of older people.

Background: The demand for residential aged care is increasing due to the ageing population. Optimising the design or adapting the physical environment of residential aged care facilities has the potential to influence quality of life, mood and function.

Objectives: To assess the effects of changes to the physical environment, which include alternative models of residential aged care such as a 'home-like' model of care (where residents live in small living units) on quality of life, behaviour, mood and depression and function in older people living in residential aged care.

What Constitutes Preferred Long-Term Care Provided in Residential Aged Care Facilities? An Empirical Comparison of the Preferences of the General Population, Residents, and Family Members.

Objectives: Relatively few studies to date have examined the preferences of members of the general population as potential future consumers of long-term aged care services. This study aimed to use discrete choice experiment methodology to compare the preferences of 3 groups: the general population, residents, and family members of people living in long-term aged care.

Methods: A total of 6 salient attributes describing the physical and psychosocial care in long-term residential aged care were drawn from qualitative research with people with a lived experience of aged care and were used to develop the discrete choice experiment questionnaire.