What everyday tasks do elderly people find difficult?
Hi all,
I have an assignment for which I have to design an electronic handheld device which can be used by elderly people to support them in completing everyday tasks. I don’t know anyone elderly to ask so if anyone has any suggestions/knowledge about what sort of tasks elderly people find difficult, then any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks for your time 
Bending down to tie my shoe laces is a problem. Not all elderly people have the same difficulties, they differ according to their disabilities and limitations.
housework like vacumning and getting in and out of the bath
going up and down stairs?
opening jars and tins?
anything that involves strength or flexibility like getting in and out of the bath, tying shoelaces, picking stuff up off the floor and sometimes even lifting up a kettle. depends on the ability of the individual
Reaching things on high shelves, putting one’s shoes on with buckles or ties. Vacuuming rugs and doing stairs. Opening jars, bottles and bags of food.
My career involves assessing what elderly and disabled people can and cannot do for themselves and hiring workers to help them around the home, so I hope I can help you!
Most elderly people are arthritic and stiff, frail, have some degree of memory, hearing, and sight loss, and also have trouble balancing due to the inevitable breakdown of their systems. Therefore, they most need help with bending, reaching, carrying, lifting, and standing for long periods of time, as well as reminders for appointments and medications. I am wondering how even a made-up handheld device could possibly do all of these things for anyone?
Something I am putting off right now, cleaning my bathroom, its tricky getting behind the commode, the inside of tub, corners, those sort of jobs.
2. vacumning
3. making my bed because I have a bad back
4. all the cracks and crevices in kitchen & low part of refrig
Thank you!!
FYI: I do have a grabber for up high items and a jar opener which is currently broken.
everyday living is difficult i hate it my whole body hurts im am just waiting to die .i am 90yrs old my family dont bother i just sit in my chair all day i grabbed this laptop off matron and thought i would just have a quick go.I have nothing to look forward to at all i quite enjoy watching the mad old boy in the corner he falls asleep in his dinner oh that causes such a rumpus and ethel who is 89 years old the battle they have to get her to take her medication i say good on her the m eds only make you tired you can do all that when yer dead anyway.a device to automatically pull me curtains would be handy they are so heavy and also a device to pass me my cup of tea would be good and something to help me get away from matron and her bloody cod liver oils would be good. bye young man
Design an electronic handheld device that will dissolve the ice and snow from my sidewalk in the winter. It is very difficult to shovel snow or chip away the layer of ice after an ice storm.
Visit a Senior Center and get their input.
Most of them love being asked for their opinions.
Getting up when you have to crouch down as in a supermarket and you want something off the bottom shelf and the upper shelves are not stable enough to support you when you try and pull yourself up. I am not even quite and oap yet, have to pain etc in my knees but simply cannot get up once down. I have talked to loads of otherwise active friends and they all have the same problem.
I would need something to remind me to use a handheld device!
With arthritis and bad knees I have difficulty reaching high to get things or clean and bending or squatting. I can’t even put air in my tires anymore. Without full service gas stations that’s a big problem. All four tires have slow leaks. Darn! It hard to clean the bathtub even. I’m very healthy, but all the joints are falling apart.
I have arthritis in my hands which makes it difficult to do simple tasks such as open cheese slices or lunch meat to make sandwiches. I have scissors in the kitchen.
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘elderly’. I have great difficulty finding my vacuum cleaner.
I can cope with my computer and my temperamental printer. I’ve tamed my mobile phone, the washing machine and dishwasher know better than to argue with me, but I have difficulties with the vacuum cleaner and the duster. They just don’t speak my language!
I’m 64.
hearing conversations,unscrewing jars is one and opening tins. Getting up and down steps or in and out of the bath. but not all of them. some are more flexible than a 20 year old.
I am 65 and can still do most things without difficulty. I have a friend with arthritis in her hands and she finds it difficult turning her house key when unlocking the front door.
I’m as fit as a fiddle, however, I do find opening jars to be somewhat difficult.
Opening jars, bottles and tins. Also putting shoes on and tying laces.
Getting up before noon is a biggy
Opening anything in plastic packaging, ie. cheese, chips.
Cans with pull back tabs, ie. soup, meat.
Opening plastic 2 liter bottles, milk jug, and jars.
I bought my friend a jar opener at Wal-Mart last year but they don’t carry the item this year. I believe it was battery operated. I keep scissors in the kitchen to open plastic packaging.
All basic domestic chores seem to have gotten significantly more difficult to do as my body can’t bend as much, doing repeated motions like sweeping and vacuuming and mopping aggravates my hip joints to the point I have to take a pain killer and lie down a bit. Anything that entails bending like scrubbing the bathtub (that glass door makes it all the more difficult), cleaning the oven. Getting the cobwebs off the ceiling. Having to make 3 or more trips up and down the stairs to take out the trash and recycling.
How about inventing something to cure the sheer frustration of not being able to do some things?The body not being able to keep up with the brain.Looking at something you want to do and bursting into tears of frustration because you can`t do it and don`t want to bother anyone else to do it.Doing up buttons,hooks and laces(and no I don`t want to wear those awful velcro do up ones!)Opening items that are vacuum packed in plastic that seems to be welded to the backing card.Getting to the back of the fridge,cleaning behind the toilet,corners,stairs etc;changing the bed linen,opening `child`(and me!) proof`containers(I have to get a child to open mine!)Not being able to stand for long and then not being able to sit for long.Taking washing out of the machine.having to go slowly up and down stairs and steps.All minor things compared to the annoyance of not being able to do them.