Abstract
To a higher degree, older adults will live to old age in their own homes with the assistance of home care services. One effect of this is an increased number of people working in the home environment. This paper presents the results from a research project that studied the physical environment in Swedish home care. Innovations to support the home care situation were developed, with the aim of contributing to patient safety and improving working conditions, without diminishing the homelike atmosphere. These innovations were evaluated by both the care recipients and home care staff. The number of generated ideas shows the potential for improving the way in which home care is performed. One example is piece of storage furniture that addresses many of the identified problem areas. This was well received by the staff and residents. One challenge with the type of products presented is that they are neither direct work tools nor aids for the elderly, which means that in today’s organization in Sweden, there is no system for financing them.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The results from these measurements are presented in a poster at the IEA 2018 Conference.
References
Statistics Sweden (2018) Population statistics
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (2010) NIOSH Hazard Review: Occupational Hazards in Home Healthcare, D.o.H.a.H. Services, Editor
Johansson G et al (2015) Working and living with home care—a workplace for one, a home for the other. In: Lindgaard G, Moore D (eds) 19th Triennial congress of the international ergonomics association. International Ergonomics Association, Melbourne, Australia
Persson J et al (2016) Innovations to support people in the physical environment in homecare—a workplace for one, a home for the other. In: HEPS Healthcare and Society, Toulouse, France
Gillsjo C, Schwartz-Barcott D, von Post I (2011) Home: the place the older adult cannot imagine living without. BMC Geriatr 11:10
de Veer AJ, Kerkstra A (2001) Feeling at home in nursing homes. J Adv Nurs 35(3):427–434
Vihma S (2013) Homelike design in care residences for elderly people. In: Hujala A, Rissanen S, Vihma S (eds) Designing wellbeing in elderly care homes. School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Espoo
Rechel B et al (2013) Ageing in the European Union. The Lancet 381(9874):1312–1322
Hjalmarson J, Lundberg S (2015) Work postures when assisting people at the toilet. Ergon Des 23(2):16–22
Hignett S, Edmunds Otter M, Keen C (2016) Safety risks associated with physical interactions between patients and caregivers during treatment and care delivery in home care settings: a systematic review. Int J Nurs Stud 59:1–14
Prime Minister’s Office Sweden (2013) Future challenges for Sweden—final report of the Commission on the Future of Sweden
Kirk D, McClelland I, Fulton Suri J (2015) Involving people in design research. In: Wilson JR, Sharples S (eds) Evaluation of human work. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Sharples S, Cobb S (2015) Methods for collecting and observing participant responses. In: Wilson JR, Sharples S (eds) Evaluation of human work. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Persson, J., Erlingsdottir, G., Löfqvist, L., Johansson, G. (2019). Evaluating Innovations for the Physical Environment in Home Care – A Workplace for One, A Home for the Other. In: Bagnara, S., Tartaglia, R., Albolino, S., Alexander, T., Fujita, Y. (eds) Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 818. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96098-2_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96098-2_29
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96097-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96098-2
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)