Forming and Living in a Seniors’ Cohousing: The Impact on Older Adults’ Healthy Aging in Place

Abstract

Older adults in the twenty-first century are engaging in different activities to promote their healthy aging in place. The purpose of this article is to describe older adults’ experiences of forming and living in a seniors’ cohousing community, and its impact on their healthy aging in place. The author conducted a secondary data analysis of qualitative data. Seventeen older adults from a seniors’ cohousing community participated in the previous study. The findings from the secondary analysis of data showed that living in the building supported the older adults’ independence, social interaction, safety, and mental health, as well as provided supportive services. An implication of the study is for policy makers, service providers, researchers, and society as a whole to collaborate with older people to address their needs for healthy aging in place in the community.

Keywords:

• Older adults
• healthy aging in place
• cohousing
• North America
• secondary data analysis

Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to the research assistants for their help with data collection and analysis. In addition, I am thankful to Hailey Silversides for editing the manuscript. Finally, I am very grateful to all the older adults who participated in the original study.

Additional information

Funding

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Offices of the Dean of Nursing and the Vice President for Research, University of Regina for funding the study.