Modifying one's home is an important strategy to manage chronic health care conditions to manage chronic health care conditions, increase independence, and ensure safety of frail older adults. However, in many areas of the country home modifications are difficult to obtain. The purpose of this project is to develop an innovative assessment protocol that will include comprehensive assessment of both function and environment in order to enhance the capacity of nationally recognized home modification specialists to assist under-served populations. Unlike existing assessment instruments, the product developed in this project will provide sufficient information about an individual's housing environment and housing needs such that home modification specialists will be able to prescribe appropriate environmental changes without having to perform on-site assessments. At the end of Phase I, the initial version of the Comprehensive Assessment Survey Protocol for Elderly Residents (CASPER) had been completed and its feasibility demonstrated by a high degree of concurrence between home modification solutions based on the assessment protocol and those based on a typical on-site assessment. In Phase 2 of the project, follow-up components of CASPER and test instructional materials to accompany the protocol will be developed. The effectiveness of the protocol will ensure the availability of home modification services to under-served rural elders. At the end of Phase II, EHLS will be ready to market the protocol as a tool to expand the availability of home modifications across the country.
The planned protocol will have broad appeal to case managers, occupational therapists, home health nurses and other providers of aging services, who currently are aware of the role of modifications, but who often lack the expertise to accurately identify environmentally-related problems and effective home modification solutions. The protocol will enable these professionals to conduct on-site assessments and then utilize nationally recognized experts to design and specify appropriate modifications.
