A Study on the Development of the Equipment and the Living Environment to Support Independence in the Elderly

Research Project

Project/Area Number	10680131
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	家政学一般(含衣・住環境)
Research Institution	Mukogawa Women's University
Principal Investigator	YANASE Takuko Mukogawa Women's University, School of Human Environmental sciences, Dept. of Human Environmental sciences, Professor, 生活環境学部, 教授 (60031663)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	TANAKA Siho Mukogawa Women's University, School of Human Environmental sciences, Dept. of Human Environmental sciences, Assistant, 生活環境学部, 助手大西由美 (小川由美) 武庫川女子大学, 生活環境学部・生活環境学科, 副手
Project Period (FY)	1998 – 1999
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1999)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000) Fiscal Year 1999: ¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000) Fiscal Year 1998: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Keywords	Elderly / Daily Living Action / Dietary Life / Kitchen Environment / Physiological Load / Household Work / 台所環境 / 阪神大震災 / 生活自立 / 居住環境
Research Abstract	For the elderly to make a independent life, the household activity is an important element and in it, the dietary is the most basic element. In this study, first, it investigated the present situation about the dietary life of the elder after the earthquake disaster in the Hyogo prefecture. As a result, many delicate persons of physical condition and elder men living alone fall in the estimation with the degree of satisfaction of meal and cooking load. The improvement of the kitchen environment and the social support for their independence of the dietary is suggested. Next, to grasp the actual conditions of the living act in the daily life of the elderly, it recorded in active quantity continuously for 48 hours. As a result, the main factor which influences the generally active quantity of 48 hours is a household working activity, an age, the number of family and so on. There is a negative correlation between the amount of household working time and the number of family. The household working to have done extend over a long term of time, thus appears to have the effect of keeping capacity to perform everyday actions. Moreover, it measured physiological load about stairs going-up and down, the sweeping machine operation of it, the bedmaking, in the household working. As a result, it makes the elderly correspond to the work load more by the increase of the pulse pressure compared with the younger than to the number of the heart rate. The phenomenon which is peculiar to the elder needs more longer recovery time after the work . In the future, the improvement of the facilities environment according to the life is suggested in the daily life of the elderly.