Quality of life in boarding houses and hostels: a residents' perspective.

In the last forty years deinstitutionalization has transferred the care of people with a serious mental illness from the psychiatric hospitals to community based facilities. More recently it has been questioned whether these new facilities offer the anticipated benefits of quality of life. This study examines the Quality of Life (QOL) of people diagnosed with schizophrenia living in two different accommodation facilities, hostels and boarding houses. QOL is examined from the resident's perspective. Lehman's (1988b) QOL Interview was used to measure objective, subjective, and global QOL of 60 participants in three hostels and two boarding house clusters. Hostel and boarding house data were compared and results showed that residents preferred boarding house accommodation. Overall, residents of both accommodation facilities reported satisfaction with QOL, and indicated that they regard them as asylum or sanctuary from the outside world.

Australian women and income security for old age: A cohort study.

Australian women constitute a majority of the aged population in Australia, and are more likely than men to be single in old age as well as dependent upon the means-tested Age Pension with no, or only limited, income supplementation from other sources such as occupational superannuation. Based upon research on a national sample of 1016 Australian women, aged across the adult life span, this paper reports age cohort patterns of work, family, and economic expectations for old age. While work and family patterns of Australian women are changing, the clear trend remains towards labour force withdrawal and part-time work for long periods while children are present in the home. The implications of these patterns for income security in old age are discussed.