title: Older UK sheltered housing tenants' perceptions of well-being and their usage of hospital services.
abstract: The aim of this study was to examine sheltered housing tenants' views of health and well-being, the strategies they adopted to support their well-being, and their use of health and social care services through a Health Needs Assessment. Sheltered housing in the UK is a form of service-integrated housing for people, predominantly over 60. The study used a parallel, three-strand mixed method approach to encompass the tenants' perceptions of health and well-being (n = 96 participants), analysis of the service's health and well-being database, and analysis of emergency and elective hospital admissions (n = 978 tenant data sets for the period January to December 2012). Tenants' perceptions of well-being were seen to reinforce much of the previous work on the subject with strategies required to sustain social, community, physical, economic, environmental, leisure, emotional and spiritual dimensions. Of the tenants' self-reported chronic conditions, arthritis, heart conditions and breathing problems were identified as their most common health concerns. Hospital admission data indicated that 43% of the tenant population was admitted to hospital (886 admissions) with 53% emergency and 47% elective admissions. The potential cost of emergency as opposed to elective admissions was substantial. The mean length of stay for emergency admissions was 8.2 days (median 3.0 days). While elective hospital admission had a mean length of stay of 1.0 day (median 0.0 days). These results suggest the need for multi-professional health, social care and housing services interventions to facilitate sheltered housing tenants' aspirations and support their strategies to live well and independently in their own homes. Equally there is a need to increase tenants' awareness of health conditions and their management, the importance of services which offer facilitation, resources and support, and the key role played by prevention and reablement.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Glenda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hodgson
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barron
authors.affiliation: Housing Environment and Leisure, North Tyneside Council, North Tyneside, UK.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McMillan
authors.affiliation: Housing Environment and Leisure, North Tyneside Council, North Tyneside, UK.
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marston
authors.affiliation: Housing Environment and Leisure, North Tyneside Council, North Tyneside, UK.
authors.forename: Eleanor
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Binks
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Science, York University, York, UK.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rose
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006760:Hospitalization; D006798:Housing; D016852:Housing for the Elderly; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012947:Social Work / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: health needs assessment; older peoples' health; older tenants; sheltered housing; well-being