Measuring the Impact of Bedroom Privacy on Social Networks in a Long-Term Care Facility for Hong Kong Older Adults: A Spatio-Social Network Analysis Approach

Aria C. H. Yang (), Habib Chaudhury, Jeffrey C. F. Ho and Newman Lau
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Aria C. H. Yang: School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China
Habib Chaudhury: Department of Gerontology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive Burnaby, Vancouver, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
Jeffrey C. F. Ho: School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China
Newman Lau: School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: This study aims to measure the impact of bedroom privacy on residents’ social networks in a long-term care (LTC) facility for older adults. Little is known about how the architectural design of bedrooms affects residents’ social networks in compact LTC facilities. Five design factors affecting privacy were examined: bedroom occupancy, visual privacy, visibility, bedroom adjacency, and transitional space. We present a spatio-social network analysis approach to analyse the social network structures of 48 residents. Results show that residents with the highest bedroom privacy had comparatively smaller yet stronger groups of network partners in their own bedrooms. Further, residents who lived along short corridors interacted frequently with non-roommates in one another’s bedrooms. In contrast, residents who had the least privacy had relatively diverse network partners, however, with weak social ties. Clustering analyses also identified five distinct social clusters among residents of different bedrooms, ranging from diverse to restricted. Multiple regressions showed that these architectural factors are significantly associated with residents’ network structures. The findings have methodological implications for the study of physical environment and social networks which are useful for LTC service providers. We argue that our findings could inform current policies to develop LTC facilities aimed at improving residents’ well-being.

Keywords: long-term care home; older adults; physical environment; social network analysis; compact living (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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