Brief summary
The research method selected is a cross-sectional study. The paper examines the following three geriatric studies. First, the study by Carter et al. (1997) considers the occurrence of various environmental welfare exposures in the homes of those people aged seventy and above in Australia and proposes measures that could help avoid associated injuries. Second, Chen et al. (2015) examine the correlation between blood pressure and hypertension and the exposure of elderly people in Taipei City to long-term air pollutants. Lastly, Romli et al. (2018) seek to examine the factors, which leads which promotes the occurrence of environmental threats in the households of the elderly residents of Malaysian.
Comparison of Articles
The basic similarity between the three articles is that they all concentrate on the occurrences of environmental threats encountered in the households of the elderly people in different populations. While Carter et al. (1997) and Romli et al. (2018) studies look at environmental hazards in general, Chen et al. (2015) study is specific and considers only the long-term exposure of the elderly to the air pollutants. In addition, this study only examines how such pollution causes blood pressure and hypertension in the elderly, thus being more specific than the other studies. Unlike the study by Carter et al. (1997), Romli et al. (2018) identify the factor that promotes the occurrence of the environmental hazards. Carter et al. (1997) consider the elderly to be 70 and above and only examines 425, Chen et al. (2015) consider them aged 65 and examines 27,752 while Romli et al. (2018) fails to mention the specific age and considers 1489 participants.
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Data Collection Method
In Carter et al. (1997) study, 425 elderly people were recruited through their general practitioners. They conducted a home safety inspection. The participants also contributed to an interview regarding health-related safety concerns. For the Chen et al. (2015) study, the researchers analysed cross-sectional statistics of 27,752 residents of Taipei who are aged 65 years and above. These are participants on the 2009’s health examination program. Lastly, Romli et al. (2018) used cross-sectional data. The researchers obtained basic demographics from the global questionnaire. They also measured various basic and instrumental day-to-day activities using Katz and Lawton-Brody scales. The researchers also consider the levels of the home falls and applies the Accidents Screening tools.
Target Demographics
The study by Carter et al. (1997) targets the elderly population living in a defined geographical location in Australia. The study samples 425 people aged 70 and above and inspects the environmental hazards that they face. The study by Chen et al. (2015) targets the 2009’s participants in the health examination program in Taipei City. The population size is 27,752 residents. Lastly, Romli et al. (2018) sample 1489 participants from Malaysian Research. They examine the hazards that they experience.
The outcome of the Studies
The studies identified various environmental dangers encountered in the households of the elderly people. First, Carter et al. (1997) and Romli et al. (2018) identified bathrooms and floor surfaces to be the riskiest for the elderly. The participants identified falls be a riskier hazard. In addition, inadequate contact of the elderly to the health providers and lack of visitations was identified to be risky. On the other hand, Chen et al. (2015) examined that one-year exposure of the elderly residents of Taipei to the absorbance of PM 10 , PM 2.5-10 and PM 2.5 and that of NO x were highly connected to high diastolic blood pressure and not associated with hypertension. Additionally, Romli et al. (2018) identified lack of access to bedside light and inappropriate footwear to be additional factors. Other factors associated with the hazard include poor housing, poor vision, a greater number of occupants and low monthly expenditure.
The effectiveness of the Research Methods
The study by Carter et al. (1997) applies a cross-sectional assessment of the targeted population earlier mentioned. The approach is effective as it successfully collects appropriate data from the participants regarding the various environmental hazards they face. Ai inspection of the safety of their homes gives a more precise analysis. The Chen et al. (2015) study is also more effective than the other studies at it collect statistical data regarding the correlation existing between 1-year exposure of the elderly to the air pollutants and the incidents of blood pressure and hypertension. The study is more effective and reliable as it uses linear regression and logical regression to test the correlation above to confirm the data. Lastly, Romli et al. (2018) are also effective as it uses data from global questionnaires and tools like Katz, Lawton-Brody scales, Home Falls and Accident Screening Tools. They also interviewed the participants directly to examine the frequency of their falls in the past 12 months.
Redesigning the Studies
Despite the fact that the three studies are effective thus the reliability of their results, a few changes and advancement could enable the attainment of better results and genuine conclusions. For instance, both the Carter et al. (1997) and Romli et al. (2018) studies need to narrow down the environmental hazards and only considers a manageable few or one like the Chen et al. (2015) study. This is because a less complex analysis would enable the researcher to concentrate the research on a specific hazard, thus attaining better results. The two studies are also too qualitative, thus, qualitative data need to be adopted.
References and Bibliography
Brook, R. D., & Rajagopalan, S. (2009). Particulate matter, air pollution, and blood pressure. Journal of the American Society of Hypertension , 3 (5), 332-350.
Carter, S. E., Campbell, E. M., Sanson-Fisher, R. W., Redman, S., & Gillespie, W. J. (1997). Environmental hazards in the homes of older people. Age and Ageing , 26 (3), 195-202. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/26/3/195/35978
Chen, S. Y., Wu, C. F., Lee, J. H., Hoffmann, B., Peters, A., Brunekreef, B., & Chan, C. C. (2015). Associations between long-term air pollutant exposures and blood pressure in elderly residents of Taipei city: a cross-sectional study. Environmental health perspectives , 123 (8), 779. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4529013/
Romli, M. H., Tan, M. P., Mackenzie, L., Lovarini, M., Kamaruzzaman, S. B., & Clemson, L. (2018). Factors associated with home hazards: Findings from the Malaysian Elders Longitudinal Research study. Geriatrics & gerontology international , 18 (3), 387-395. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ggi.13189
Stevens, M., Holman, C. D. A. J., & Bennett, N. (2001). Preventing falls in older people: the impact of an intervention to reduce environmental hazards in the home. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society , 49 (11), 1442-1447.
