Abstract
In this paper we explore the concept of autonomy and its impact on health for older adults living with chronic illness. With the world’s population growing older, along with increased incidence of disease, much needs to be done to mitigate the burden of illness for the health of the person, communities and the nation. Part of the solution of growing old with disease, is in the residential placement settings with service designed technology to aid the individual to maximize their quality of life. From a social ecological framework, we outline key concepts as reported by elders for designing transformative service. Determinants of autonomy both from a health and a design perspective were explored interprofessionally. The key concept as reported by elders for the meaning of autonomy was the ability to make their own decisions. The study concludes with prospective research plans to design a prototype solution to help mitigate autonomy.
Keywords
autonomy, service design, assisted living, transformative service research
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/servdes2018.52
Citation
Ramdin, V., Kim, M., Pozzar, R., Fombelle, P., Zhang, Y., Zhou, X.,and Janigan, J.(2018) Resident autonomy in assisted living facilities: a conceptual framework for transformative service research, in Anna Meroni, Ana María Ospina Medina, Beatrice Villari (eds.), ServDes 2018: Service Design Proof of Concept, 18–20 June, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/servdes2018.52
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Papers
Resident autonomy in assisted living facilities: a conceptual framework for transformative service research
In this paper we explore the concept of autonomy and its impact on health for older adults living with chronic illness. With the world’s population growing older, along with increased incidence of disease, much needs to be done to mitigate the burden of illness for the health of the person, communities and the nation. Part of the solution of growing old with disease, is in the residential placement settings with service designed technology to aid the individual to maximize their quality of life. From a social ecological framework, we outline key concepts as reported by elders for designing transformative service. Determinants of autonomy both from a health and a design perspective were explored interprofessionally. The key concept as reported by elders for the meaning of autonomy was the ability to make their own decisions. The study concludes with prospective research plans to design a prototype solution to help mitigate autonomy.