Elderly people's daily activities and need for mobility support

The aim of the present study is to describe elderly people's performance of some daily activities in relation to their need for mobility support in their living environment. Two groups of individuals, over the age of 65 and living in an old urban area with access to elevators in their housing, were compared, as regards mobility, shopping, hobbies and social contacts. The first group (n = 284) comprised persons who needed assistance from another person in using the elevator. The subjects in the second group (n = 325) were able to manage the elevator independently. The subjects in the first group experienced more problems in carrying out the activities than those in the second group. Weekly shopping was the only action in which the findings demonstrated no main differences between the groups. Throughout all the activities of daily living (ADL), and in both groups, there were persons who were rated as having the capacity to perform the activities, but did not do so and did not want to do so. The elderly, especially in the first group, wanted to engage in more activities than they were judged to have the capacity for and/or the environmental support to do. The implications of the result for the assessment of the homes of the elderly in relation to their environment are discussed.