Physical Environments to Support Home Caregivers (01-05-10)

Gulwadi has examined residential environments to identify ways they can be designed to help reduce stress among people caring for sick family members and friends in their homes.  She suggests that these individuals can be restored through positive distractions outside the windows of the home, sunlight, and a view that includes places that provide “a sense of being away either when viewed or when actually experienced.”  Gulwadi indicates that solar tubes can bring sunlight into interior environments in which it would otherwise be unavailable.  Caregivers need a comfortable place to socialize outside of the caregiving space.  Also beneficial is a private place that caregivers can claim as their own that is separate from the caregiving area.  These findings are likely to be particularly useful to people designing senior living facilities and residences most likely to be lived in by caregiving individuals.

Gowri Gulwadi.  2009.  “Restorative Home Environments for Family Caregivers.”  Journal of Aging Studies, vol. 23, pp. 197-204.