Abstract:

This study examined several key design characteristics impacting the safety and independence of elderly people in toileting. In addition, toilet configurations based on accessibility standards for toileting were compared to designs intended to assist older people.METHODOLOGY. Participants were recruited from staff and outpatients at the Atlanta VA Medical Center, residents of three private nursing homes and three senior centers in the Atlanta area, and residents at the Atlanta, C.J. Zablocki, and Audie L. Murphy VA NHCUs. In all, 116 individuals were tested; 66 were ambulatory and 50 used wheelchairs. The project used a task performance and analysis methodology in a repeated measures design. A transportable mockup of a toilet room was constructed, with accommodations for two toilet seat heights and four grab bar configurations at two heights, as well as for two cameras for videotaping the trials. The walls of the testing unit were marked with a grid to indicate where the grab bars were grasped in the trials.