Evidence-Based Quantitative Assessment for Geriatric Design

• Author / Creator

  Afifi, Mona

• Poor design of indoor architectural spaces can contribute to an increased risk of falling for older adults. Thus, this research aims to provide an architectural design assessment system to integrate state-of-the-art evidence-based research into an assessment process by which to evaluate the risk of falling for older adults in residential dwellings. The developed assessment is implemented on bathroom design in order to improve the surrounding environment for older adults who are living independently in their homes. The methodology of this research is divided into five stages. In Stage 1, a systematic review is conducted to ensure that relevant and available literature is reviewed and analyzed. In Stage 2, bathroom design assessment is conducted based on the conceptual approach of the divide and conquer algorithm (DCA). For bathroom design, the DCA is divided into five design elements: bathtub, toilet, lavatory, lighting, and flooring. Each design element is divided into a number of features and then into scenarios that define its architectural specifications. In Stage 3, a rating system is developed for the proposed DCA of the bathroom elements and features; this rating system presents the degree to which each element and its features reduce the risk of falling. Equal interval scaling is adopted for the rating system to provide quantitative values for the ordinal-scaled scenarios developed in the previous stage. In Stage 4, a mathematical model is developed by which to calculate the rating number that reflects the risk of falling associated with the bathroom design. In Stage 5, characterization of the proposed assessment system is undertaken to identify the model output limits and ranges. In this research, a new concept of Block Schema (BS) is developed based on anthropometric considerations in order to provide a graphical representation of the surrounding free-zone associated with each design element.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Evidence-Based
  • Falls
  • Bathroom
  • Older adults

• Graduation date

  Fall 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3TB0Z353

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.