| The purpose of this study is to find the most influential factors which enable older persons to live independently in their own homes. For this research, 55 low-income homeowners residing in Richmond, Virginia, were surveyed to examine their state of living in poverty.; The literature on "aging in place" frequently indicates the following issues: informal social support, health status (physical and mental), physical environments, financial situations, and elderly care policy/programs. In order to investigate transactional relationships among these elements, a systemic model was built upon the paradigm of B = f(P, E). Thus, the aging-in-place model hypothesizes that successful aging in place is the outcome of transactions between the person (economic and health status) and the environment (divided into two domains: physical and social support networks). Additionally, the policy element was included as an extrinsic environmental factor.; The model was operationalized in the form of a regression equation with successful aging in place (life satisfaction) as the dependent variable and others as a set of independent variables. The regression/correlation analyses led to the formation of path diagrams, which yielded economic status being the most significant factor in achieving successful aging in place, followed by health status as the second important factor. Unexpectedly, the physical environment and social support variables were found to be statistically insignificant despite their relative importance in reality. After much deliberation, it was considered that the two factors acted as if quality variables in the regression equation. Accordingly, the results are interpreted as: Given adequate social support and favorable environments, successful aging in place tends to depend on the economic and health status of elderly individuals. The policy factor also was found to be influential, although its test statistic was somewhat weak to claim it definitely.; Thus, the hypothesis of the aging-in-place model was validated as an empirical means of investigating the phenomenon of aging in place conceived as a system. However, a general use of the model is limited because of its small size of the sample extracted from a specific locale with single socio-economic status. Hence, this study is merely a step toward more elaboration of systemic approaches in addressing aging in place. |
