For further assistance with your assignment, ask at the Belzberg Library Reference Desk or contact Nina Smart, Liaison Librarian for Gerontology (778.782.5043 / nsmart@sfu.ca) Monday to Thursday.

Course description:

"This course presents an in-depth examination of theory, research and policy related to housing for independently active, physically frail, and cognitively impaired older adults. Seminar topics will include: theories in environment and aging, meaning of home and psychological well-being, range of housing alternatives, community and active aging, housing as a setting for home health care, factors mediating housing/living arrangement preferences and choices; environmental design considerations; aging in place and universal design solutions. Students are expected to come to class prepared to participate in critical discussions based on the assigned readings."

Note: for further information see the course outline and page in Canvas. If there are discrepancies between  information listed on this page and that in Canvas or instructor handouts, please refer to the latter.]

Finding books and journal articles

Books

Handbooks of theories of aging [print and online]
"providing essential knowledge about primary explanations for aging, spanning from cells to societies"

Universal design handbook [print or online]
Handbook on "global standards and design solutions;" provides discussion and multiple perspectives on universal design

Enabling environments: measuring the impact of environment on disability and rehabilitation [print] 
Chapter 7: Assessing Special Care Units for Dementia: The Professional Environmental Assessment Protocol (Covers the famed PEAP tool)

Search SFU catalogue (and its Search Guide) under Subjects such as:

• Alzheimer's Disease -- Patients -- Dwellings
• Barrier-Free Design For Older People
• Dementia -- Patients -- Long Term Care
• Home -- Social Aspects
• Older People -- Dwellings
• Older People --Housing
• Older People -- Long-Term Care
• Retirement Communities

To search for books by subject heading, use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue, then select Subject browse from the drop-down menu.

Journal articles

Ageline
Database for social gerontology research. Sample terms: Long Term Care; Nursing Homes; Retirement Housing

CINAHL Complete (Nursing and allied health)
Database for healthcare research. Sample terms: Long term care ; Nursing homes ; Aged

Ergonomics Abstracts Online
Database with focus on research on "human factors in human-machine systems and physical environmental influences". Sample search: Elderly adults AND home

GEOBASE 
Database for research on Human geography. Sample term: Aging

Royal British Architectural Library Catalogue Online (RIBA)
Online catalogue for architecture research  RIBA uses search term: "Old People".
Note: Since RIBA has UK holdings only, use Citation Finder for SFU and other Canadian holdings

Browse individual journals such as: 
Journal of housing and the built environment
Journal of Aging and Environment (formerly Journal of Housing for the Elderly)

Books and articles for the topic: the meaning of home 

Books

Environmental gerontology: Making meaningful places in old age [online and print]

An exploration of the needs and concerns of potential ambient assisted living users within the context of the meaning of home (SFU thesis) Chapter 4 "The meaning of home"

Domicide: The Global Destruction Of Home [online] Chapter: "Home: A Landscape of the Heart"

Holding on to home: designing environments for people with dementia [print] Classic title

Home and identity in late life international perspectives [online and print]

Tester, G., & Wingfield, A. H. (2013, March). Moving past picket fences: The meaning of “home” for public housing residents. Sociological Forum (Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 70-84).
Note: This article has a very useful bibliography

 Privacies: Philosophical Evaluations [print] Chapter: "A Room of One's Own: Old Age, Extended Care, and Privacy"

Journal articles 

PsycINFO 
The major psychology databases - start with  keyword phrase: "environmental gerontology", or:  "environmental gerontology" AND home

Sociological Abstracts 
Start with keyword searches such as: "meaning of home" AND elderly, or: "environmental gerontology"

Research resources 

New! Systematic, scoping, and rapid reviews: An overview

Literature reviews for graduate students
This guide from SFU's Research Commons  includes guideline and  framework  information.  

For help with framework questions Graduate Writing Facilitators see their Writing Services page

PRISMA 
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

How to... conduct a systematic or evidence-based literature review (Emerald's Authors section)
Quite medical -- includes an example of a summary table

​​​​​Extracting information from data: visualizing gerontological results 
Miami University -- with visual examples

Citation management software and tools 
SFU Library supports Zotero. For help with citation questions contact citation-managers@sfu.ca 

SFU Gerontology theses and capstone projects
See other graduate students' work - they did it, and you can too!
Example: Grief and bereavement support for staff in long-term care homes: A scoping review. See chapter 2: Methods, including the concepts chart and search strategy

Organizations and reports

Aging in the Right Place (AIRP)
Research publications, reports and briefs from the project support older people experiencing homelessness in Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver

Better at Home
British Columbia organization,funded by the provincial government and managed by the United Way, providing resources and services for older adults to live independently: online source for information, resources, and reports

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) including:

Maintaining Seniors' Independence Through Home Adaptations : A Self-Assessment Guide from
An online guide designed to assist individuals in assessing their own needs related to independent living

Housing Market Information Portal
CMHC Statistics

See also: Accessible and Adaptable Housing and Aging in Place

Trace Center projects (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Technology for "people experiencing barriers due to disability, aging, or digital literacy"
 

Miscellaneous

Services for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows more SFU Library services
Research Commons for graduate student and researcher support for writing, digital scholarship, and more including the RC room at Harbour Centre

For more information see: Urban Housing Policy  
This SFU library topic page includes links such as the Housing Policy overview from Union of British Columbia Municipalities, useful government and think tank reports, and many housing statistics resources

Topic page: Aging and the City
 includes tips for searching the topic: walkability

How to write an annotated bibliography
SFU Library guide