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The proportion of the population aged 65 and over is rapidly rising and is expected to reach 24.3 per cent by 2031, up from 12 per cent in 2006. As a result, the Hong Kong government is facing challenges in meeting the growing demand for residential care homes. To provide a clear picture for construction professionals engaged in the future design and operation of such homes, it is first necessary to understand the opinions of end‐users in existing facilities. The paper aims to identify key facilities management (FM) components in three particular areas of residential care homes.

In order to collect data from end‐users, a questionnaire survey of 119 end‐users (both elderly residents and staff) based on post‐occupancy evaluation (POE) was used to evaluate the FM performance of the homes and establish the relationships between the comfort levels of FM components and the satisfaction of elderly residents.

The findings in the questionnaire survey indicated that all 16 key FM components were significantly related to the satisfaction with the home, while space planning, temperature, ventilation, privacy, finishes, and staff were the factors predicting satisfaction with different areas.

The paper makes a number of practical recommendations to government and construction professionals for improving the residential care environment, including a wide corridor with short distance and a low‐speed air‐conditioning machines in the common areas. In the bedroom, designers are recommended to install some partitions in terms of privacy and consider the microclimate carefully. In the bathroom, the use of lifting devices, louver doors, sufficient ventilation and a stable hot water supply are beneficial for the elderly's satisfaction.

Post‐occupancy evaluation is a commonly used tool to evaluate FM performance based on the end‐user's perspective. The study innovatively investigates the impact of different FM components on elders' satisfaction degree by application of POE.

Hong Kong implements a policy for the aging population involving the core themes of “aging in place as the core,” “institutional care as backup” and “continuum of care.” Encouraging elders to live independently at home is a top priority, and elders who are not able to live at home independently are provided with various residential care services, namely Hostels for the Elderly, Homes for the Aged, Care and Attention (C&A) Homes for the Elderly and Nursing Homes (NHs). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the adoption of the publicly funded model of providing residential care services of elderly in Hong Kong.

The paper analyzes the current conundrum encountered by elders in residential care services and makes recommendations. A comprehensive literature review was conducted covering relevant government reports, academics' journal papers and nongovernmental organizations’ reports concerning residential care service of elderly from 1965 to present.

Subsidized residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) clearly outperform private RCHEs in terms of space and staff provisions, but the supply of subsidized RCHEs cannot meet the demand. Hence, between 2007 and 2018, the average waiting time was 33 months for NHs and that for C&A homes was 23 months. Several viable measures to meet the demand are purchasing Enhanced Bought Place Schemes (EBPSs) from private RCHEs, subsidizing elders who opt for living in private RCHEs by providing them with Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) and residential care service voucher (RCSV) and subsidizing elderly applicants who opt for living in RCHEs in Guangdong. However, these viable measures are problematic because of the inadequate quality of EBPSs and private RCHEs, which is attributed to the costing arrangement of public and private RCHEs that were established in the colonial period. The brief history of RCHEs also indicates a deviation from the original policy aim, namely aging in place, which was introduced in the Green Paper on Services for the Elderly in 1977.

The supply and quality of community and home care services should be thoroughly examined; effective community and home care services can prevent and even delay unnecessary institutionalization. Another complementary solution is to devise a long-term plan for residential care services. To address disparities in quality standards in different RCHEs, adopting the combination of punitive and compliance models such as conducting frequent inspections and implementing an accreditation system for private RCHEs is imperative.

Although the principle of “aging in place” originated in 1977, the institutionalization rate 6.8% of elders was unexpectedly high in Hong Kong and even surpassed the Asian counterparts. It necessities to rethink how to implement policy concerning long-term care services of elders.

Given the aging population and resulting increase in the demand for residential care and attention (C & A) homes in Hong Kong, the government has allotted funds to provide better care services for the elderly. However, such appropriation seems to have focused on creating additional places, rather than improving the quality of services. The elderly may face risks if they are not provided with proper facilities to assist with activities of daily living (ADL), while those suffering from various diseases may be at even greater risk. In order to mitigate such risk and hence enhance the quality of facility management (FM), this paper aims to identify the major components of FM in C & A homes and investigate the relationships between these components and the risks and diseases facing elderly residents.

In total, 81 questionnaires were completed by elderly residents of C & A homes, evaluating their perceived comfort level with FM components, their disease status and the frequency of occurrence of various specified risks. Relationships between these variables were then established by Pearson correlation and partial correlation analyses.

In total, 13 FM components were identified, of which only four (space planning, noise, signage and catering) had significant relationships with the identified risks. Some of these relationships were moderated by specific diseases.

The relatively small sample size, with 81 respondents from seven homes, may limit the generalisability of the results. However, the study establishes a platform for conducting further large-scale surveys of elderly residents in different types of C & A homes. On the other hand, further investigation of the specific FM requirements of elderly residents suffering from various diseases is also encouraged.

This paper confirms that close relationships exist between various FM components, risks and diseases relevant to elderly residents in C & A homes. The results indicate that the FM components of space planning, noise, signage and catering should be addressed in order to reduce the risks such residents face.

The ageing of rural Chinese populations is challenging health and social policy, driving growth in rural nursing homes. Living environment plays a role in enhancing elderly quality of life (QoL), however, the impact of the built environment and care services are under-studied. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of the built environment and care services on the QoL of elderly people within rural nursing homes in China.

A total of 242 residents of nursing home were surveyed, of which 76 percent were male and 24 percent were female. In total, 25.6 percent were aged between 60 and 69, 40.1 percent between 70 and 79, 31 percent between 80 and 89, and 3.3 percent were 90 or above. Quantitative data were analyzed through factor analysis, reliability test and multiple regression modeling.

The authors identified six built environment factors (room distance, space, barrier-free design, indoor environment, fire safety, and support facilities) and three services factors (i.e. daily care services, cleaning services, and healthcare services). QoL was measured over four dimensions: QoL, physical health, psychological health, and social relationships. Elderly QoL could be accurately predicted from room distance, space, barrier-free design, indoor environment, daily care services, and cleaning services.

Interventions in design of the built environment and the provision of care services are proposed, including dimensions of living space, heating, and provisions for qualified care providers.

This paper provides a clear picture about elderly special requirements on their built environment and healthcare services, helping architects, engineers and facilities managers understand elderly needs and improve built environment during design and operation stages.

The paper aims to investigate the key components of facilities management (FM) in care and attention (C & A) homes from the end users’ perspective based on a post-occupancy evaluation method. Hong Kong is a rapidly ageing society. Elderly population may reach 24.3 per cent in the next 20 years, causing an increase in the demand for care services. Therefore, it is necessary to provide sufficient and satisfactory residential C & A homes with appropriate facilities for our elderly.

To collect subjective data from end users, a questionnaire survey was conducted in 119 respondents consisting of both elderly residents and staff of the C & A homes. To further understand the actual situations, site measurements were also used to collect the objective data from the representative homes.

The results indicate that three aspects of key FM components, namely, architect, building services and supporting, all have significant relationships with the overall satisfaction. The site measurements further revealed the actual environment of the seven C & A homes, especially the contrasts between homes with highest scores (Homes E and F) and lowest scores (B and D).

To provide a clear picture to the government and construction professionals, a number of practical recommendations were proposed, such as sufficient space with single or couple bedrooms, sufficient corridor width for two people in wheelchairs and white or pink as the colour scheme in architectural aspect; sufficient lighting, central air conditioning system and adequate quantities of natural fresh air in the building service aspect; and frequently updated menus, door lock and CCTV system for supporting facilities.

This paper applied site measurement on the representative homes to cross-check the quantitative results. The findings of this study can assist architects and facilities managers in C & A homes to improve FM services during the design and operational stages for improving the satisfaction levels of elderly residents.

Quality of life (QoL) for elderly residents of care and attention (C&A) homes has become an important consideration, given the increasingly aging population. Due to the number of hours such residents spend indoors, the quality of the facilities can contribute to their day-to-day QoL. This study aims to investigate the effect of facilities management (FM) on the QoL of Chinese elderly people living in C&A homes.

A survey of perceived satisfaction with the components of FM and QoL was carried out with a sample of residents. A total of 18 FM components and five QoL domains, including physical health, independence, psychological health, social relationships and living environment, as well as overall QoL, were identified.

The findings show that physical health is influenced by accessibility, doors and windows and signage; independence can be improved by enhancing accessibility, water supply, lighting and ventilation; accessibility, water supply, distance and doors and windows all predict psychological health; social relationships are improved by lighting and ventilation; distance impacts positively on the living environment; and overall QoL is predicted by lighting, ventilation, accessibility, doors and windows, handrails, recreation and signage.

The study recommends that designers and facilities managers review the micro-climate settings to harness available natural lighting and ventilation, introduce bimetallic strips to the heating systems to maintain a suitable water temperature and install large, easy-to-understand and graphic signage for straightforward wayfinding in C&A homes.

This article analyses community care services (CCS) in terms of availability, awareness, accessibility, and acceptance (the Four A’s approach), untangles the deep-seated factors underlying the CCS and provides some short-term, medium-term, and long-term recommendations.

A literature review was conducted, including relevant government reports, consultation papers, Legislative Council papers and articles from academic journals from 1980 to the present.

The Four A’s approach shows that applicants to both centre-based services and home-based services endure lengthy waiting times because of the limited number of CCS. Furthermore, the awareness of day respite services is approximately 50 percent, which lags behind other CCS. Accessibility is contingent on a cross-district day respite service system and a lack of consistency between the quota and the proportion of older adults in the districts. Finally, the level of service provided by CCS is unsatisfactory due to inflexible service provision. Reviewing the brief history of long-term care services (LTC) reveals the deep-seated factors at the core of their heavy reliance on the subvention model, in contrast to the adoption of the ‘mixed economy of care’ by residential care services (RCS). An imbalance in budget allocation to RCS and CCS is also revealed.

Although the principle of ‘ageing in place’ was introduced in 1977, the institutionalisation rate (6.8 percent) of older adults remains unexpectedly high in Hong Kong, even surpassing its Asian counterparts, whereas the usage rate of CCS hovers around 0.8 percent. Thus, how to implement policy concerning LTC services for older adults must be re-evaluated.

The purpose of this study is to find out what knowledge and experience of occupational therapists, personal assistants and public health nurses/nurses in Sweden can contribute concerning the vulnerability of residents to injury in different residential care-settings.

This study is based on an online survey. A total of 832 individuals responded to the survey. The data were analyzed from a mixed-method approach, using descriptive statistics, correlations and textual-analysis.

More than one in four representatives of these professions had witnessed accidents. The results show that bedrooms and bathrooms are the rooms in which accidents are most likely to occur in homes.

One limitation of the study is that the impact of educational initiatives on the different professions was not investigated, so it is not possible to ascertain what effect this may have had on risk identification and accident prevention measures in residential care-settings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no prior study of these issues has been conducted. This study is deemed to have significant social benefit because of the steadily increasing need for care in residential settings. No other study has addressed the importance of the physical environment in this context. Collaborations involving researchers from various disciplines, professional organizations and public and private sector employers involved in personal assistance have contributed specific knowledge.

The aim of this paper is to argue for the values of familial caring and relationships in addition to the provision of social media technology during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

The discussion of this paper has adopted an inter-disciplinary approach by integrating health care system and psychological analysis, based on cultural philosophical argument through the hermeneutic approach of classical texts and critical analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the dilemma between the public health measures for COVID-19 and sustaining elderly social psychological health through familial connection. From a Confucian perspective, the practice of filial piety (xiao, 孝), which demands taking care of parents, is essential for one’s moral formation, and for one’s becoming a virtuous (ren, 仁) person. The necessity of taking care of elderly parents by adult children is not something that can be explained in terms of consequentialism. Indeed, the rising trend of instrumental rationality seems to weaken rather than strengthen the sense of filial obligation. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic which tends to separate connections between family members, the author argues that we should emphasize the values of familial caring and relationship because it enhances the elderly’s characteristic of resilience.

This paper shows that while social media technology has mitigated the negative effect of social distancing, such online relationships should never replace the bodily connections between the elderly and their family members from a Confucian perspective.

This study aims to identify senior citizens’ requirements related to “embedded retirement facilities (ERFs)”, which are small-scale, multi-functional and community-based care facilities for senior citizens in mainland China, and to discuss whether senior citizens’ perceptions are influenced by their backgrounds.

A questionnaire type of research was administrated to gain senior citizens’ rankings of services that should be provided by ERFs. Non-parametric statistical models were applied to analyse the collected data.

Results reveal that health care services for senior citizens are considered the most important. Requirements regarding rehabilitation and entertainment and daily life assistance are ranked second and third, respectively. Culture-related activities are the least important. Differences in the senior citizens’ background also influence their choices.

This research is based on a questionnaire survey completed in northeast China. Opinions from other areas of mainland China will be collected in the future study. Furthermore, the key items identified in this research, which was completed by participants from the built environment discipline, can be further elaborated by combining interdisciplinary feedback.

This study explores services that are supposedly provided by ERFs. Findings will provide useful perceptions from senior citizens and will enable decision makers to prioritise services for senior citizens.

Although senior citizens are the end users of ERFs, their needs are easily overlooked. This study calls attention to their needs from ERFs, and the results are likely to serve as references for stakeholders in building improved facilities.

ERFs have been provided in mainland China to cater to senior citizens’ needs since 2014. However, few studies have identified senior citizens’ requirements for provided services. The survey-based results of this work will serve as references for various stakeholders in making enhanced decisions.