What health-promoting qualities in a physical outdoor environment should be prioritized for older persons in residential care facilities - from mapping to working methods for design and planning

The project aims to increase knowledge about qualities in the physical outdoor environment that promote health, outdoor rehabilitation and outdoor stays for older persons at residential care facilities.

At present, rehabilitation interventions are mainly carried out indoors and older persons do not have legal right to daily outdoor stays, which both animals on farms and incarcerated persons in prisons have.

Evidence-based arguments are needed to influence that residential care facilities for the elderly should offer outdoor stays and outdoor rehabilitation, and for a regulatory framework that gives the right to daily outdoor stays for the elderly to be designed.

It is therefore important to investigate which qualities in the physical outdoor environment at residential care facilities that facilitate outdoor stays.

At present, many older persons are completely dependent on staff to go outdoors, which means a high risk of feeling locked up.

The project intends to generate new knowledge about the extent to which older persons at residential care facilities have access to and are offered the opportunity to stay and be active outdoors and about their preferences.

Based on this survey and a systematic literature study, an evidence-based guideline is developed, focusing significant qualities in the physical outdoor environment at residential care facilities that promote the elderlys´ health, outdoor rehabilitation and outdoor stays.

Furthermore, a working method is being developed to support the implementation of these health-promoting qualities in the outdoor environment in the planning and design process for new production and renovation of residential care facilities.

In order to further anchor that the results are applied, dialogues are conducted with relevant authorities and a model for environmental analysis regarding outdoor environments in special accommodations is developed within SLU´s ongoing social assignments for environmental assessment.