Anderson Diana C, DeCaro Renée E, Chadalavada Myna, Marin Anna, Di Crosta Adolfo, Ceccato Irene, Malva Pasquale La, Mammarella Nicola, Di Domenico Alberto, Turk Katherine W, Palumbo Rocco, Budson Andrew E
Center for Translational Cognitive Neuroscience, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
J Aging Environ. 2023 Oct 25;2023:1-37. doi: 10.1080/26892618.2023.2269552.
The home and neighborhood environments impact the social and mental health of older adults, yet little research has addressed the various contexts that can affect these relationships, such as community culture, built and natural elements, and demographics. This survey-based study examined community-dwelling older adults' access and use of transitional outdoor/indoor space (i.e., porches, gardens, windows, etc.), and how that use was related to health variables and changed with the pandemic in two available samples of older adults in the United States and Italy. Use of both outdoor and indoor space was found to be more individualistic in Boston, in the United States, than in Chieti, Italy, where use of these areas with others was more common. Results suggest that window viewing from within the home may be an activity that individuals in Italy engage in when feeling lonely. Changes in the use of home and community space after COVID-19 were minimal; only in the United States did individuals report greater time indoors since the onset of the pandemic. Use of the built environment in and around the home by older adults was found to have multidimensional characteristics between the United States and Italy, with the potential to foster connections and improve well-being.
家庭和邻里环境会影响老年人的社会和心理健康，但很少有研究探讨可能影响这些关系的各种背景因素，如社区文化、建筑和自然元素以及人口统计学因素。这项基于调查的研究考察了居住在社区中的老年人对过渡性户外/室内空间（如门廊、花园、窗户等）的使用情况，以及这种使用与健康变量之间的关系，以及在美国和意大利的两个老年人群体样本中，这种使用情况在疫情期间是如何变化的。研究发现，在美国波士顿，户外和室内空间的使用比在意大利基耶蒂更具个人主义色彩，在基耶蒂，与他人一起使用这些区域更为常见。结果表明，在家中望向窗外可能是意大利人在感到孤独时会从事的一项活动。新冠疫情后家庭和社区空间使用的变化很小；只有在美国，人们报告说自疫情开始以来在室内的时间增加了。研究发现，美国和意大利老年人对家庭及其周边建筑环境的使用具有多维度特征，具有促进联系和改善幸福感的潜力。
