Enchancing quality of life of elderly in residential care home through facilities management model

Abstract

In Hong Kong, there are increasing trends for the number of the elderly people. With the serious aging problem, it puts a great pressure to Hong Kong government for created a great demand for residential care home for elderly. Although the government creates more living places for the elderly, it cannot guarantee that the elderly can live happily and enjoy their life. Indeed, most elderly are suffering physical, psychological and social problems that imply poor quality of life. Proper application of facilities management (FM) can not only improve the quality of the life of the elderly through enhancing their physical, psychological, social and environment aspect. The scope of FM can involve a wide range of topics, for example, space management, lighting, ventilation, colour and decoration, distance, temperature, social recreational aids and etc. This paper aims to suggest a tactical and empirical solution to improve quality of life in the residential care homes through application of FM, and to enhance the facilities and satisfaction level of the elderly in residential care homes by studying the relationship between the quality of life level of the elderly and FM components in the homes. Surveys in form of questionnaire and interview have been conducted amongst the elderly and staff. The quantitative data collected was analyzed by the techniques like factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation, t-test and regression, while the qualitative data was analyzed by the NiVivo. The results show that distance, space planning, privacy, color and decoration, furniture, ventilation, noise, signage, fire services, safety and security, signage, catering, social recreational aids, accessibility, fixtures, floor finishes and parking areas can improve quality of life in residential care homes. Indeed, from the regression, it indicates that the space planning and social recreational aids affect the quality of life mostly. Through this result, some recommendations on improving the FM in residential care homes can be made including: provision of balcony, windows or podium, shorter distance between rooms, using non-slip tiles in all floors of the C & A home and etc.