Suggested benefits of retirement living ‘not yet supported by robust evidence’

Despite much talk in the sector that relocation to purpose-built retirement housing offers older people health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits there is no “coherent or robust” evidence to support it, according to a leading provider.

South Australian-based not-for-profit community care and retirement housing provider ECH said this uncertainty underpinned why it had commissioned a longitudinal study to track the impact of housing on seniors’ health and wellbeing.

Amber Watt, project manager research and evaluation at ECH, told the Australian Association of Gerontology national conference last week that much was being said about increased life expectancy, improved health and wellbeing as well as enhanced quality of life and social connections.

“There is an overriding narrative in the sector that relocation to purpose-built age-specific housing confers a wide range of benefits,” Ms Watt said. “But the elephant in the room overall is the suggested benefits of retirement living are not yet supported by a coherent or robust evidence base.”

ECH provides community services in home support, social and wellness programs and has over 1,600 independent living units (ILU) in small clusters targeting the affordable end of the market. The units were dominated by women and singles.

“Our residents stay with us for an average of eight-and-a-half years but what we don’t know is whether or not living in an independent living unit has offered them any specific benefits that they might not have received in a different form of housing,” Ms Watt said.

The study aims to see what benefits #retirement housing does actually offer to #health, #housing, #wellbeing & longevity: Watts #AAGConf15

— Australian Ageing Agenda (@AustAgeAgenda) November 5, 2015

Early findings

Researchers from the Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Adelaide, in conjunction with ECH, are three years into the seven-year study, which is based on comparative and annual surveys.

The project involves the rolling recruitment of 450 new entrants into ECH units as they arrive as well as 700 seniors living elsewhere in the community in a variety of housing, but primarily their long-term residences.

All community-dwelling participants have been recruited and undertaken three waves of the survey, while 300 ECH residents have so far completed the first wave survey.

While stressing the preliminary nature of the data, Ms Watts presented findings at the conference comparing the current ECH cohort with the first wave of community participants.

She said gender representation was similar across the two but there were many more singles in ECH housing – 67 per cent compared to 40 per cent in the community sample – and age structures were slightly different with ECH residents more likely to be aged between 70 and 74 or over 85.

The majority of respondents in both groups reported themselves to be financially comfortable, but ECH residents were almost twice as likely to report they were struggling financially, which was not necessarily surprising given the ECH’s focus on affordable housing, Ms Watt said.

Health and quality of life

“People living in the community were more likely to report their health as excellent or very good while ECH residents were more likely to report just good or poor health,” she said.

According to the data, both groups scored very high on quality of life indicators with no significant statistical difference between them, but ECH residents were more likely to report age as a barrier to undertaking some activity, Ms Watt said.

However, she said it was interesting that respondents living in the community reported feeling less empowered than those in ECH housing – 18 per cent reported their life course was out of their control compared to 7 per cent of the ECH cohort.

Receiving assistance

According to the early findings, ECH residents were more likely to receive assistance than those living in the community, mostly for things such as shopping, home maintenance, finances and health, with a smaller proportion requiring assistance with household tasks.

When seeking assistance, family was considered the most important source for both groups, while the second preference was the local council for community residents but friends for ECH residents, which could indicate the relationships developed among co-located retirement living residents, she said.

Social connections

Ms Watt said while that perceived social support was high for both groups, ECH residents reported undertaking more social activities more often than community dwelling participants, but still perceived themselves to be less socially-connected and supported.

“We need to start to unpick what is underlying this. I am wondering if perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we have such a high proportion of single people and people who come to us after the death of a partner,” she said.

The new ECH residents were also slightly more likely to report markers of social isolation and loneliness, which was important to monitor longitudinally to determine if that changed after they settled in, Ms Watt said.

Satisfaction with home and the local area

ECH residents reported higher levels of features in their home and community that would support ageing in place than community-dwelling participants, but the latter was more likely to report that their current home met their needs and capabilities, Ms Watt said.

However, she said a telling finding was that 88 per cent of ECH residents said they would likely be living in their current home in five years’ time compared to 80 per cent of community residents.

Ms Watts said this research had raised many questions and more would follow as the study continued. But she believed it already provided the beginnings to understanding their overarching question of how housing might contribute to keeping older people active, engaged and confident in their ability to stay independently living in their home.

Want to have your say on this story? Comment below. Send us your news and tip-offs to editorial@australianageingagenda.com.au 

Subscribe to Australian Ageing Agenda magazine (includes Technology Review) 

Sign up to AAA newsletters