Years of the research: 2014 - 2017
Country: Slovenia
Language: Slovenian
Keywords:
Abstract:
The main goal of the research was to define innovative living environments for the elderly that will meet the needs, desires, and habits of the elderly in Slovenia and that will enable the elderly to remain active members of society for as long as possible, and at the same time for these living environments to be financially more sustainable for the elderly and for Slovenian society in general. To gather data, a telephone survey was used. People aged 50+ were asked (among others) about their towards different housing options, with particular focus on less known options such as senior cohousing, household groups, caregiving family for the elderly people and multigenerational communities. The results of the research showed that the known living arrangements are much more acceptable to the elderly than the unknown or less known.
Researchers:
Type of research: national
Target group: For this study, we chose to sample older people from the population of the whole territory of Slovenia. We included the population of Slovenia older than 50, males and females from all Slovenian regions and types of dwelling (urban and non-urban).
Sample:
The Public Opinion and Mass Communications Research Centre of the Social Sciences Institute at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Social Sciences was commissioned to carry out the survey. The questionnaire contained questions related to the real estate and households the respondents lived in (tenure, size, length of residence, maintenance problems, the real estate’s adaptation to living in old age, number of household members, proximity of relatives, etc.) and questions referring to the respondents’ economic status and health. The authors were also interested in the respondents’ satisfaction with their housing and living environment, their attachment to their immediate living environment (home) and their wider living environment (neighborhood or the environment they live in), and their attitudes toward potential relocation, the types of assistance they receive or would require for performing specific activities, their attitudes toward various living environments for the elderly with an emphasis on forms of living that are less common or not yet present in Slovenia, and their views on various housing solutions that make it possible to earn additional income from owning real estate. Finally, the respondents were also asked to provide information on their age, sex, education, marital status and place of residence. For the purposes of analysis of old people attitudes towards different housing options we focused on the questions that measured respondents’ attitudes towards living arrangements for the elderly that are already established in Slovenia (nursing homes, sheltered housing, staying in the existing dwelling / house with the support of day centres etc.) and attitudes towards less known living arrangements for the elderly for which we thought could be adaptable to the social and cultural environment of Slovenia. Respondents were asked to imagine that they are in a situation where they cannot take care of themselves. They were then asked to score the living arrangements offered on a scale from 1 (not at all acceptable) to 5 (completely acceptable). Before the evaluation began the respondents were given short and easily understandable descriptions of each of the known or less known living arrangement for the elderly. In order to determine whether there are important differences or common features among the elderly people in Slovenia on the basis of their attitudes toward well-known and lesser-known forms of living arrangements, we have ranked respondents answers using hierarchical classification method (pooling method) in groups. The sample frame was a set of private numbers from the latest Slovenian telephone directory. It was a systematic random sampling because the person’s choice was determined by his or her ‘last birthday’ (i.e., people 50 years and older that were the last to celebrate their birthday). The telephone survey was conducted by 25 professional interviewers from 23 to 27 November 2015. The survey was conducted with the BLAISE program, which allows ‘dates’ (this means that the target person can be called at a specific time) and has set up a parameter for redialing occupied numbers and numbers on which no one has previously responded. The BLAISE program also allows logical control over leaps, which is already defined in the source code of the questionnaire. We received 930 valid questionnaires. The completion rate was 32%. According to data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 40% of the country’s population was age 50 and over in the second half of 2015, which means that our sample accounted for 0.11% of the total Slovenian population age 50 or more. The sample was representative.
Aims/Objectives/Background:
Western society is characterized by increasing aging. Compared to other regions, the problem of aging is especially acute in Europe. Slovenia is no exception in this regard. Moreover, Slovenian society is aging even faster than the European average. The problem of population aging is so severe that it has become an important political topic because countries are facing increased financial needs to provide appropriate housing and services for the elderly. With regard to the provision of housing for the increasing share of the elderly in Slovenia, it is especially alarming that Slovenia has so far primarily developed institutional housing for the elderly, which is the most expensive among all forms of housing. To a very limited extent, rental housing and assisted-living facilities are also available to the elderly, but there are nearly no other forms of housing. On the other hand, Slovenia has a high level of home owners. Diverse housing models for the elderly have been implemented throughout the world. In Slovenia there are also some examples of local best practice in providing services for the elderly. However, caution is necessary in transferring and implementing these innovations because they must also prove successful in other environments and among all age groups of the elderly. The research question was therefore which alternative forms of housing and which services for the elderly suit their needs, desires, and habits in Slovenia. We hypothesized that in Slovenia these differ by the environment the elderly live in (urban vs. rural), different age groups, type of housing unit they live in (house vs. apartment), and so on.
Findings/outcome/conclusion/research questions:
As expected, the results of the survey showed that the known living arrangements are much more acceptable to the elderly than the unknown or less known. However, it should be noted that a significant proportion of respondents also characterized the latter with not acceptable or neither acceptable nor unacceptable. According to the hierarchical cluster analysis four identified groups differ significantly in how acceptable they have evaluated the proposed options. The first group could be called the tradionalists, as the most acceptable housing option for them is a home for the elderly, the second group identified we have called the independent; they have a higher than average preference for living in a secure dwelling. The third group we have labelled the attached to their home; they have found all the listed options as extremely unacceptable. The fourth group we have labelled positivists; they have rated all the listed options as acceptable (i.e. above the average).
Publication/reports: Will be available soon.
Online publication/reports/links:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bostjan_Kerbler
Financed by: Project was financed by the National Research Agency
Contact person: Boštjan Kerbler, e-mail: bostjan.kerbler@uirs.si
Copyright
“The Central and Eastern European Active Ageing Network database is protected by copyright law, under international agreements and the EC Database Directive 96/9/EC. The owner of the database is the Institute of Mental Health of Semmelweis University and the University of Debrecen Faculty of Health. Reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is not permitted without the prior written authorization of the [owner].”