Aim: Physical activity has been described as important for the well-being of all individuals, including the very old. The aim of this study was to investigate how physical activity is performed at assisted living facilities, the situations in which older people were and wanted to be physically active and the role of the physiotherapist at each facility.

Methods: To achieve this aim, an ethnographic study including observations and interviews was conducted at four assisted living facilities.

Results: The results show that physical activity neither was an issue in focus at any of the assisted living facilities, nor were recommendations on physical activity followed. Individuals that were able to exercise themselves could do so, whereas those in need of assistance had but limited possibilities to be physically active. There was a need for physical activity that the staff do not necessarily and sufficiently identify.

Conclusion: The study illustrated that there were major variations in how older people engaged in physical activity and how physical activities were part of everyday life. Physiotherapists played no clear role at the facilities, especially with regard to preventive exercise. Older individuals were not involved in determining which activities should be made available to the residents.

Fysisk aktivitet för äldre beskrivs i litteraturen som något positivt och viktigt och har kommit i fokus under senare år. I svensk äldreomsorg dominerar ett aktivitetsteoretiskt synsätt och det finns även internationella rekommendationer om fysisk aktivitet för äldre. Få studier har dock undersökt hur behovet av fysisk aktivitet tillfredsställs i det särskilda boendet.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur äldreomsorgens personal tänker och agerar när det gäller fysisk aktivitet för äldre. Det empiriska materialet består av observationer och intervjuer på fyra särskilda boenden i två olika svenska kommuner.

Resultaten visar betydelsen av rådande kulturer och normer för hur personalen tänker och agerar kring fysisk aktivitet. Det finns en motsättning mellan hur personalen diskuterar äldres önskemål om stöd för fysisk aktivitet och hur hänsyn tas till fysisk aktivitet i det dagliga arbetet. Denna motsättning visar sig genom att personalen beskriver vikten av fysisk aktivitet för de äldre personerna samtidigt som denna prioriteras bort till förmån för andra arbetsuppgifter. Det förefaller ha skapats en acceptans för att äldres individuella önskemål inte kan tillgodoses om personalen har andra uppgifter att utföra.

Physical activity is described in the literature as positive and important, and has come into focus in recent years. An activity-based theoretical approach dominates in Swedish eldercare, and there are also international recommendations on physical activity for older people. Nevertheless, few studies have explored how the need for physical activity is satisfied at assisted living facilities.

The aim of this study was to investigate how professionals working in eldercare think about and act to promote physical activities for elderly people. The empirical data consists of observations and interviews conducted at four assisted living facilities in two different Swedish municipalities.

The results show how cultures and norms are important for how professionals think and act regarding physical activity. There is a contradiction between how professionals discuss elderly people’s need for support for physical activity and how they act in their day-to-day work. There seems to be an acceptance that elderly people’s individual needs cannot be met if professionals have other tasks to perform.

Planning for the housing situation of an ageing population is one of the challenges of many countries. To increase our understanding of the needs of the ageing population, a nationwide survey stratified on age and municipality type was conducted. Research questions referred to the current housing situation and plans. The aim was to investigate how preferences, location, and/or the type of housing preferred changes with age and if they are housing market dependent. Results of 10-year cohorts show that the most marked change is between the cohort 75–84 years old and the oldest cohort 85+. There is a gradual change over time of moves from large to small housing, from owner-occupation to rented housing. Respondents in the major cities and in the rural or tourism-dependent municipalities are less inclined to move compared to those from other types of municipalities. The study predicts a shortage of rented apartments.

Retirement has recently been studied as a complex process that affects people’s lives in many different ways (Teuscher 2010; Grenier 2011; Halleröd, Örestig and Stattin 2013). Retirement implies changes in time-space use, interruption in routines and changed social patterns. Leisure activities, shopping, errands and rest are no longer determined by the working life rhythm. New time-space constraints might at the same time occur that limit the individual’s actions, such as reduced income, new or increased commitments towards children and grandchildren, involvement in associations or part-time work (Kleiber and Nimrod, 2009; Szinovacz et al., 2001; Van den Bogaard et al., 2013).

A vast amount of research from different fields has focused on the implications of retirement for wellbeing (Bender 2012; Wang 2007), adjustment (Van Solinge and Henkens 2008), identity (Teucher 2010), volunteering (Van den Bogaard et.al., 2013) and physical activity (Lahti et al. 2011). So far, only a few studies have investigated everyday activities and timespace use among older people in general and the post-World War II generation in particular (Chatzitheochari and Arber 2011; Gauthier and Smeeding 2003). In many studies of  time-space use, the aim has been to illuminate the juggling of everyday activities that occurs and to deal with the balance between work, leisure and family (Schwanen and de Jong 2008; Kwan 2000; Scholten, Friberg and Sanden 2012). Naturally, retired people have not been included in those studies, although many older people play an important role in the lives of families with small children (Schwanen 2008) and seek supporting and leading roles as citizens (cf. Gagliardi, et al. 2007; Leinonen 2011; Liechty, Yarnal and Kerstetter 2012; McCormack et al. 2008; Nimrod and Adoni 2006; Sperazza and Banerjee 2010). Little is known about the expectations this generation has on retirement and its demands for activities. The aim of this study is therefore to explore newly retired peoples everyday activities. What activities do they take part in and where are these activities carried out? In what respect, and for what reasons, do activities change or stay the same upon retirement?

The remaining of this paper begins with a discussion of the implications of retirement on everyday activities in accordance to previous research. The time-geographical perspective and concepts used here for studying activities is then presented. That is followed by a description of methods, data and analysis, before the empirical analysis of travel diaries and qualitative interviews is given. The paper ends with a discussion of the results in relation to previous research.

The increasing proportion of elderly in European populations has prompted debate about where and how they will reside. Our main hypothesis is that when moving in this phase of life the most common move would be one from a suburban location in owner occupation to a more central location. This would be in line with the popular belief that older people, when they retire or when the children have moved out, want to take part in the culture of city living, such as concerts, theatres and museums in addition to enjoying a more convenient type of housing. This, we argue, is the assumed residential pattern during the third age and a possible part of a mobility cycle as described by Rossi (1955). The aim of this study was to examine the local geographical mobility and tenure of older people. The analysis was made using a register database, Geoswede, comprising the total Swedish population. Moves of the cohorts born in the 1920s, 1930s and the 1940s were followed between 2001 and 2006. Using five distances to the municipal population core a centralized mobility pattern could be observed. The two older cohorts made such moves, whereas the majority of the youngest cohort moved to peripheral destinations. From analysis of three case municipalities, it was shown that movers from owner occupation in the cohort born in the 1940s moved within owner occupation to a greater extent and made short distance moves. This type of knowledge will have an impact on planning issues.