Support Needs Among Older Tenants Living in Public Housing in Sweden: Perspectives of Janitors and Maintenance Staff.

Neighborhood support can improve aging in place for older adults, but research on the role of public housing staff in supporting older tenants is lacking. Twenty-nine participants (janitors, n = 11; maintenance staff, n = 18) collected data about critical situations among older tenants residing in apartments in Sweden. Modifying the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) and applying a mixed-methods design, quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed with descriptive statistics and thematic analysis, integrated through narrative. We found that older tenants asked staff for help with daily tasks. The staff identified CI management dilemmas in meeting older tenants' support needs while following the housing company's regulations, maintaining professional responsibilities, respecting individual work attitudes and preferences, and experienced a lack of competencies in some situations. Staff members were responsive to offering support in simple, practical, and emotional situations and in addressing matters they perceived as deficits in social and health services.

[1]  Arch. Dennis L. Estacio.  Janitor’s Attitudes: Their Effect on Performance at La Consolacion University Phippines SY 2020-2021 , 2021, International Journal of Multidisciplinary: Applied Business and Education Research.

[2]  Deborah A Fitzsimmons,et al.  Use of community support and health services in an age-friendly city: the lived experiences of the oldest-old , 2020, Cities & Health.

[3]  T. Church,et al.  Janitor workload and occupational injuries , 2019, American journal of industrial medicine.

[4]  M. Grander.  New public housing: a selective model disguised as universal? Implications of the market adaptation of Swedish public housing , 2017 .

[5]  B. Wadensten,et al.  Is the competence of Swedish Registered Nurses working in municipal care of older people merely a question of age and postgraduate education? , 2015, Scandinavian journal of caring sciences.

[6]  Daniel B. Kaplan,et al.  Aging in Place vs. Relocation for Older Adults with Neurocognitive Disorder: Applications of Wiseman’s Behavioral Model , 2015, Journal of gerontological social work.

[7]  Michael D Fetters,et al.  Achieving integration in mixed methods designs-principles and practices. , 2013, Health services research.

[8]  L. Hansson,et al.  Landlords’ Experiences of Housing Tenants Suffering from Severe Mental Illness: A Swedish Empirical Study , 2013, Community Mental Health Journal.

[9]  G. Blomé.  Corporate social responsibility in housing management : is it profitable? , 2012 .

[10]  J. C. Flanagan.  Psychological Bulletin THE CRITICAL INCIDENT TECHNIQUE , 2022 .