“Aging is not for wimps,” or so my friends and family say when we get together and share stories about our lives.
About the scholar
Stephanie Robert is a professor and director in the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. Her research focuses on how social and economic aspects of people’s lives affect their health and well-being throughout their lives. She views social policy as health policy – determining how to best improve social policy rather than only healthcare policy to maintain people’s health and reduce health disparities.
DISCOVER MORE:
go.wisc.edu/robert
While older age can come with opportunities for spending time with family, friends and hobbies, it also often comes with health challenges.
At some point in our lives, approximately 70 percent of us will need supports and services to help with daily care needs on an ongoing basis – such as managing medications, preparing meals, bathing and dressing.
Although most long-term supports and services are provided at home, moving to a nursing home can be appropriate to meet intense care needs. However, my research team found that older adults sometimes move to nursing homes not because it is the best place to meet their care needs, but because they can’t afford both their housing costs and their care needs at home.
Low income and a lack of affordable housing can result in premature nursing home care, which is both more costly to society and less preferred by older adults.
My research team investigates how a range of factors affect our options for long-term supports and services at older ages – factors such as our income, race, living situation, informal supports, and aspects of our community context.
The goal of this research is to understand how we can improve policies to ensure that all of us have the economic, social and health supports we need to live comfortable and dignified lives in old age.
This essay originally appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal’s Fueling Discovery section on May 4, 2020. Fueling Discovery is a special partnership between the Wisconsin State Journal and the College of Letters & Science.