Home modifications for older people with cognitive impairments: Mediation analysis of caregivers' information needs and perceptions of fall risks

Abstract

Aims and objectives: The aims were to (a) identify how many older people with cognitive impairments are living in modified homes and (b) explore associated factors, and (c) examine the mediating effects that their caregivers' information needs and perceptions of fall risk and other factors.

Background: Older people and their informal caregivers may consider implementing home modifications as an effective strategy for fall prevention. However, there is a lack of information on which older people's homes receive modifications and the various factors associated with such modifications among community-dwelling older people with cognitive impairments.

Design: This cross-sectional and correlational study utilises a secondary data analysis.

Methods: The data for this secondary analysis were taken from the 2015 National Online Survey of Caregivers, which includes information provided by 226 adult caregivers for older people with cognitive impairments. Descriptive analyses, hierarchical binary logistic regression and structural equation modelling were performed based on the Andersen and Newman framework of health services utilisation.

Results: Overall, 46.5% of the older people lived in modified homes. Older people's impaired activities for daily living (ADLs), caregivers' information needs and perceptions of fall risk were all associated with home modifications (all p values<0.05). Caregivers' information needs mediated the relationship between impaired ADLs and home modifications (indirect effect = 0.026, p < 0.05), whereas the caregivers' perceptions of fall risk did not.

Conclusions: Older people with both cognitive and functional impairments are more likely to modify their home on behalf of care recipient's staying at home. Caregivers' information needs should thus be prioritized when considering home modifications to facilitate caring for older people with impaired ADLs.

Implication for practice: Nurses and other healthcare professionals should be prepared to offer appropriate information and comprehensive assessments of older people's conditions with regard to home modifications.

Keywords: activities of daily living; caregivers; cognitive impairment; falls; homes for the aged; older people.