A Descriptive Study of Home Modifications for People with Dementia and Barriers to Implementation

Abstract

This study describes home environmental features, safety issues, and health-related modifications in a community dwelling sample of 82 elderly people with dementia. Main barriers to the accessibility of the homes were steps both inside and outside the home. The majority of the caregivers had made home modifications that pertained mainly to physical limitations. Home modifications to support cognitive deficits were made to a lesser extent. The main barrier to the implementation of home modifications to accommodate the care recipient's memory loss was skepticism about their usefulness. Regarding the removal of physical barriers, financial constraints were most frequently mentioned.

KEYWORDS:

• dementia
• home modification
• environmental barriers
• function
• activities of daily living

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the MIND at Home study team for their fieldwork in evaluating participants. The authors thank study participants and their families for their willingness to volunteer for the study. The authors also would like to thank Mr. Leroy Hoffberger and THE ASSOCIATED Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, for their dedication and assistance in the development and implementation of the study, and The Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation, the Leonard and Helen R. Stuhlman Charitable Foundation, The Hoffberger Foundation, Hoffberger Family Fund, David & Barbara B Hirschhorn Foundation, The Irving and Lois Blum Foundation, Leonor and Marc Blum, and the Meyerhoff Charitable Foundations for their financial support. Finally, we would like to thank the JOHNS HOPKINS Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (NIH Grant P50AG051456).