Perceived Gap of Age-Friendliness among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Findings from Malaysia, a Middle-Income Country

Chee-Tao Chang, Xin-Jie Lim, Premaa Supramaniam, Chii-Chii Chew, Lay-Ming Ding and Philip Rajan
Additional contact information
Chee-Tao Chang: Clinical Research Centre, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ministry of Health, 30450 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Xin-Jie Lim: Clinical Research Centre, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ministry of Health, 30450 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Premaa Supramaniam: Clinical Research Centre, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ministry of Health, 30450 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Chii-Chii Chew: Clinical Research Centre, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ministry of Health, 30450 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Lay-Ming Ding: Perak State Health Department, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Jalan Koo Chong Kong, 30000 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Philip Rajan: Clinical Research Centre, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ministry of Health, 30450 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: Background: The United Nations predicts that the global population aged 65 years or above will double from 703 million in 2019 to 1.5 billion by 2050. In Malaysia, the older population has reached 2.4 million, accounting for nearly 8% of the population. This study aimed to evaluate the perceptions of the elderly on the importance and availability of the age-friendly features in eight domains specified by the Global Network of Age-Friendly City and Communities. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted by structured face-to-face and or telephone interviews. Gap score analysis was performed for 32 items of the 8 age-friendly domains. The gap scores were categorized as follows: 0 = not important OR important and element available; 1 = important but unsure whether the element is available; 2 = important but element not available. The gap scores were then dichotomized into “yes” and “no”, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was subsequently performed. Results: From the 1061 respondents, the housing (55.4%) and transportation (50.7%) domains reported the highest mean perceived gap scores. Out of the 32 elements, the highest mean gap percent scores were observed in elderly priority parking bays (83.8%), home visits by healthcare professionals (78.9%), financial assistance for home modification and purchase (66.3%), and affordable housing options (63.6%). Respondents in the city center reported higher gap scores for modified restrooms, parks, volunteer activities, and the internet; respondents in the non-city center reported higher gap scores for nursing homes, healthcare professionals, and cultural celebrations. Age, location, marital status, income, duration of stay, physical exercise, internet access, and intention to continue working were found to be associated with a higher perceived gap in specific domains. Conclusion: The most significant unmet needs were detected in the housing, transportation, and employment opportunities domains. Considerable disparities in the perceived gap were detected between the older population in the city center and non-city center. To address shortcomings in the local age-friendly setting, coordinated municipal policies, political commitment, and benchmarking of existing age-friendly cities are warranted.

Keywords: healthy aging; city planning; age-friendly city; community-dwelling; aging in place (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/12/7171/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/12/7171/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:12:p:7171-:d:836576

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().