Journal article
Our Forever Home: A Qualitative Study of Retirement Living Residents and Their Changing Needs, Desires, and Expectations Towards Ageing in Place
Journal of Applied Gerontology, Vol.Advanced access
10-Aug-2026
PMID: 42576258
Abstract
Background
With the median entry age of Retirement Living Communities (RLC) in Australia rising from 65 to 75 years, traditional models that excluded care services must pivot toward comprehensive service delivery spanning health and domestic support to facilitate ageing in place.
Objective
This qualitative study examined the evolving needs, desires, and expectations of (RLC) residents to provide major industry stakeholders with data and recommendations to make evidence-based resident-focussed sectoral decisions for a portfolio of 17,000 residents.
Methods
Using an adapted World Café method, data were gathered from 517 participants across 12 events and subject to reflexive thematic analysis to distil findings.
Results
Residents identified growing appetite service provision for ageing in place including domestic assistance, meal preparation, technology support, and in-home care. The study highlights a paradigm shift requiring operators to develop integrated service provision models addressing residents’ determination to age in place with dignity, challenging existing RLC frameworks.
Details
- Title
- Our Forever Home: A Qualitative Study of Retirement Living Residents and Their Changing Needs, Desires, and Expectations Towards Ageing in Place
- Authors
- Andy Ward (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastChristopher D Askew - University of the Sunshine CoastHannah Banks - University of the Sunshine CoastAlison Craswell - University of the Sunshine CoastSarah Casey - University of the Sunshine CoastGordana Dermody - University of the Sunshine CoastLachlan Goold - University of the Sunshine CoastBriony Luttrell - University of the Sunshine CoastMia A Schaumberg - University of the Sunshine CoastNicolas Stevens - University of the Sunshine CoastDaniel P Wadsworth - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication details
- Journal of Applied Gerontology, Vol.Advanced access
- Publisher
- Sage Publications, Inc.
- DOI
- 10.1177/07334648261476478
- ISSN
- 1552-4523
- PMID
- 42576258
- Copyright note
- © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
- Grant note
- The authors wish to acknowledge Keyton Holdings, an industry partner and major Australian Retirement Village Operator provided significant funding in partnership with the University of the Sunshine Coast to undertake this research. A/Prof Schaumberg and Dr Wadsworth are supported by Postdoctoral Research Fellowships from Manna Institute, a Commonwealth-funded institute, (Industry Research Fund).
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Biomedicine; Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science; School of Business and Creative Industries; K'gari Research Cluster; Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; School of Health - Nursing; Cancer Research Cluster; School of Health - Sports & Exercise Science; School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991250589102621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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