Abstract
The Korean society is recently becoming the aging society at an unprecedentedly rapid speed. Following the increase of the older population, their needs for special care is also rocketing. However, due to the increase of working women, nuclear-families, and old persons living alone, new facilities for the elderly such as nursing home are urgently needed. Thus, many nursing homes for the elderly are also rapidly providing. It is needed to examine if such nursing homes are properly designed for the dependent elderly to live. This study was carried out by the field observation using a checking sheet with measuring and taking photograph. The subjects were 12 nursing homes which gave positive responses for walking through their facilities. The items for observing and measuring were made based on the regulation on improving the facilities for the disabled, the elderly, and the pregnant. Whether each item fits the regulation or not was examined. The 9 areas in each nursing home were examined : entrance, hallway and corridor, stair, elevator, ramp, bed room, shower and locker room, bathroom, and rest room. It was founded that many accessible-related items were met. However, many supportive-related items such as ones for the visual disabled, and many supportive-related and accessible-related ones for bathroom, shower room, and restroom were unmet. In the process of this research, it was founded that the tool for evaluating the design of nursing home in terms of universal design should be developed.
