Investigation And Research Of Using Urban Public Environments In Elderly People

Objective: The study is aimed to investigate which public places theelderly people frequently use and understand the using situation and usingevaluation to public environment facilities in elderly people. On the basis ofthe older adults’ self experience to those facilities and aspects that needimproved, it is crucial to discuss and summarize the convenient, safe andcomfortable public environments for elderly people.Methods: Cross-sectional study was applied.219elderly people inShijiazhuang City were questioned when they were exercising in communityor parks. Other inclusion criteria are that they have normal cognition andabilities of barrier-free communication. On the basis of referring to massliterature, the researcher designed Public Environments UtilizationQuestionnaire for elderly people. The questionnaire contents included thefollowing three parts: general information of elderly people, public placesusing situation and public facilities using situation. SPSS software forwindows version13.0was applied to analyze the data.Results:1Public places elderly people used and influencing aspectsPublic places elderly people used frequently in this study were parks,squares, drugstores, supermarkets and banks. The mostly considered factorwhen elderly people used outdoor places was excellent environment. Otherfactors were close to house, many and lively atmosphere. The main purposeof using other places is to meet the living needs. The reasons of elderlypeople seldom or never using public places are no need for life, be far fromhouse, physical limitation and so on.2Using situation and evaluation to outdoor public facilities of elderly peopleAccording to public seating facilities, elderly people are dissatisfied to their number and satisfied to their position and comfort. They think it’sessential to install banister and back on the seats. It is the wood materialseats that elderly people prefer to.On the use of traffic facilities, elderly people are mostly dissatisfied tothe time of intersection signal light and satisfied to bus convenience. Thereis few sound remind devices on crossroads and it’s essential to install them.If crossroads are not installed signal light, the aged claimed it’s difficult forthem to cross the roads. The main trip mode to go out is walking, the next isby bus.On evaluation of roads, older adults are satisfied to their quality. Theyprefer to walk on stone material pavements. Road skid resistance, theheight of curbstone, waterside plats, oval stone roads are evaluated general.Step and ramp was estimated general by elderly people. It’s essential toset up ramp in order to facilitate walking. More elderly people think itdoesn’t matter to install handrail along the steps or ramps. They prefer towood material handrail.Regard to public toilets, elderly people are dissatisfied to their number,they declare that installing handrails in toilets is a significant behavior. Theguide identification of toilets is obscure so as to toughly find them.The aged are satisfied to passageway convenience and dissatisfied to thenumber of shelters from rain. They rarely went out to exercise at night; mostof them evaluated lighting at night as general.Concerning elderly people’s injury situation because of public facilityproblems, a few of them were once injured.3Using situation and evaluation to indoor public facilities of elderly peopleElderly people are dissatisfied to the number of seats and satisfied tolighting and handrail convenience in buildings. Elderly people scarcely usedelevators, so most of them evaluated elevators as general. According to thetype of doors, senior citizens prefer to automatic doors.4. Comparison of utilization situation to public facilities by elderly people ofdifferent demographic characteristics Compared to elderly women, the elderly men are more dissatisfied tothe number of public seats and toilets. The older elderly people, the moredissatisfaction to the time of intersection signal light. The older elderlypeople, the more necessity to install banister and back on public seats, soundremind devices on crossroads, ramp on roads and handrails in public toilets.Compared to those elderly people who have no chronic diseases, the olderadults suffering from chronic diseases are more dissatisfied to the time ofintersection signal light, the position of public toilets and number of publictoilets. Those suffering from chronic diseases think that there is morenecessity to install banister and back on public seats, sound remind deviceson crossroads, ramp on roads and handrails in public toilets.Conclusions:The elderly people have enough time to make use of public places andfacilities, so facility design must be fulfilled the aging society needs.Public places elderly people used frequently were parks, squares,drugstores, supermarkets and banks. Meeting physical and mental needs isthe main influencing factor.There are still some negative factors among public facilities (such aspublic seats, traffic facilities, roads, public toilets and so on), these negativefactors may affect utilization in elderly people and even result in injury. Inaddition, different demographic characteristics of elderly people havedifferent utilization situation to public facilities. Therefore the demand ofspecial senior group must be considered during the public facility designprocess. Creating a comfortable, safe, convenient public environment andreducing utilization risk of elderly people play an important role inimproving exercise level and promoting active aging.