Changes in Home and Health over Nine Years among very Old People in Latvia – Results from the ENABLE-AGE Project

To meet the needs of an increasing, heterogeneous, ageing population it is imperative to understand links between home and health. In Latvia, only limited research targeting the health and home situation of very old people is available. Consequently, the aim of this study was to describe how the home environment and aspects of health have changed over nine years between 2002 and 2011 for very old people in Latvia, living in their home environment. This study is based on the Latvian part of the cross-national European ENABLE-AGE Project comprising data on objective, as well as perceived, aspects of home and health. Longitudinal data from those involved on both data collection occasions (N = 59) was used. At the nine-year follow-up, participants were between 86 and 90 years of age, still living in their own homes. The results show that not only health aspects varied along the ageing process, objective and perceived aspects of home also changed. The physical as well as the cognitive and emotional bonding to the home significantly increased i.e. aspects of meaning such as familiarity and feeling safe in your home, privacy and independence became more important for the very old participants over time. Life satisfaction increased over the years even though objective health factors decreased. Since aspects of home as well as health can be assumed to impact on the outcome of ageing, the situation for this age group in Latvia must be further studied in order to develop suitable and appropriate social and health services, policies and living conditions.