The Housing Enabler Screening Tool: Feasibility and Interrater Agreement in a Real Estate Company Practice Context

Summary, in English

The ambition underlying this study is to provide a valid and efficient screening tool targeting accessibility problems in the ordinary housing stock. The study aims to test the feasibility and interrater agreement of a screening-tool version of the Housing Enabler in a real estate company practice context. Two rater pairs administer the screening in 35 apartments in a Swedish municipality. The overall agreement for the rater pairs was 83% and 78%. For 29 of the 61 items of the tool, the agreement was > 80% for both rater pairs; for 8 items, it was < 80%. The findings show that the tool is feasible for use in a real estate practice context but that there is a need for more rater training and an instrument manual. This study contributes to the development of research-based strategies for the identification of accessibility problems in ordinary housing, with the long-term aim to increase accessibility in the housing stock, ultimately supporting activity and participation among senior citizens.

• Author: Susanne Iwarsson; Björn Slaug; Agneta Malmgren Fänge
• Department/s: Sustainable occupations and health in a life course perspective; MultiPark: Multidisciplinary research focused on Parkinson´s disease
• Publishing year: 2012
• Language: English
• Pages: 641-660
• Publication/Series: Journal of Applied Gerontology
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 5
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0733464810397354
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Topic: Gerontology, specializing in Medical and Health Sciences
• Keywords: accessibility; environmental barriers; home assessment; housing; provision; physical environment; transdisciplinary research
• Status: Published
• Project: The Enabler Concept - Method Development and Application in Research and Practice
• Research group: Sustainable occupations and health in a life course perspective
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1552-4523