Case Study

Susan Tan, 74 years old, she has difficulty walking as she had fallen once in the bathroom and had her operation a few weeks ago. She lives in a one room flat with her daughter.

In the day time, she is alone at home as her daughter has to work and her husband had already passed away. She has to depend on the walking stick in order for her to move around. Whenever she uses the bathroom without anyone help, she can spend up to 10 minutes.

After the researcher gathered all the information, the researcher says that the problem casing the accident to happen was due to aging which leads to decreased mobility and flexibility in the joints, and the act of sitting and standing at the toilet puts the body in an unbalanced position, which can make falling more likely.

For senior citizens, using the toilet can be one of the most difficult and worrisome elements of the bathroom experience. In general, the bathroom is the most dangerous room in the house for seniors; it has many slippery surfaces, sharp edges and involves a lot of motion in order to be utilized correctly.

Using the bathroom requires seniors to shift their weight and move from a seated to a standing position, which can cause them to lose their balance easily. Additionally, many medications and diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s can affect balance and make it even harder for seniors to control their balance at the toilet. To prevent accident from happening, a well-designed toilet for elderly has to be made. 

NAFA STYLE GUIDE

Rein Tideiksaar, PhD
'Making bathroom safe for seniors'
<http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/making-bathrooms-safe-for-seniors-041013.html>

Melody Wilding
'7 bathroom safety modifications care givers can make today'
<http://blog.ecaring.com/7-bathroom-safety-modifications-caregivers-can-make-today/>

(Newspaper/Mag)

Sadi, Halim
'Safety risk at public toilets' 21 June 2012, 10 February 
2014NewStraitsTime

Mind Map

Week 2: Life of an elderly person

Sally, 71 years old, she suffers from Arthritis and Osteoporosis. She stays in a one room flat alone as her husband had already passed away. She has 2 child, both of her children abandoned her. She depends on her CPF savings for living.

She only cleans her house twice a year as she has difficulty in walking and it take her days to finish cleaning her whole house. She also can’t cook due to her back problem. Therefore, she goes to the nearby hawker centre along with her walking stick to buy packed food. In order to survive by herself, she will go pick up cans and cardboards to sell to help with her income.

Her restroom is not fit for elderly as it does not have handle railings by the side of the wall for support, adjustable toilet seat and anti-slip mat. Whenever she visits the restroom, she will feel unsafe because she is afraid that she may fall anytime. She also encountered difficulty in sitting and standing up from the toilet bowl due to her back and leg problems.

Week 1: Empathizing (Safety for elderly in the restroom)

Many older people experience problems in daily living because of chronic illnesses or health-related disabilities. Those difficulties restrict their ability to perform self-care. This inability for self-care is a common reason why older people seek help from outsiders, move to assisted living communities, or enter nursing homes.


The daily living skills most affected by aging and chronic illnesses or disabilities include self-care activities that most people learn in early childhood and tend to take for granted as they mature. These include basic survival tasks such as dressing, bathing, grooming, using the toilet, moving in and out of bed or a chair, and eating. They also include activities for maintaining an independent life such as cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry, shopping, handling money, writing checks, driving, using public transportation, and using the telephone.


For many elderly and disabled persons using the toilet is a problem: when help is needed their quality of life often drastically decreases. Ageing people in general deal with decrease of physical, psychomotoric and sensory capacities. Because sitting down and getting up require postural control, the elderly are likely to have more trouble than younger people.

The most frequently applied method to deal with sitting down on and rising from toilets is the installation of a raised toilet. This possibly introduces other problems, such as increased straining and time on the toilet due to an unfavourable posture. Kirvesoja et al found indications for discomfort during prolonged sitting on elevated chairs. The method of using supports is the topic of this study. Supports allow the muscles of the legs to be assisted by the muscles of the arms and enlarge the footprint, enabling a more stable sequence of movements while sitting down and standing up. Raised toilets and supports are often combined to decrease problems with toilet use.