Life Space in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Concept Analysis

To clarify the concept of life space in community-dwelling older adults to provide a clear and standardised conceptual basis for further research.

Rogers' evolutionary approach was used to identify surrogate terms, related terms, attributes, antecedents and consequences.

Literature from 1936 to 2025 was searched from PubMed, CINAHL, ProQuest, Cochrane databases, Scopus, Web of Science and CNKI.

A total of 46 articles were included for further analysis and synthesis. The attributes of life space in community-dwelling older adults were dynamic variability, multidimensionality and interaction between intrinsic abilities and external environmental demands. Antecedents were classified into four categories, namely, individual, physical, psychological and social factors. Life space can bring positive consequences, promoting walking, assessing the risk of falling, predicting cognitive decline, facilitating rehabilitation and improving quality of life, as well as negative consequences, causing diminished subjective well-being, heightened loneliness, increased risks of hospital readmission and mortality.

Life space, as a spatial indicator of a person's range of mobility, reflects older adults' physical range of motion, the frequency of activity, their need for assistance and the level of social participation. Older adults with adequate life space in the community are more likely to engage in outdoor activities. In contrast, restricted life space can lead to adverse outcomes.

Surrogate terms, related terms, attributes, antecedents and consequences identified by the concept analysis approach will contribute to a greater understanding of life space. These analytical findings establish an essential conceptual framework for future research while offering evidence-based theoretical guidance to improve life space in community-dwelling older adults, ultimately enhancing health outcomes and quality of life.

No patient or public contribution.