Investigating Basic Requirement Regulations, Internal Environment,and their Impact on Performance of Retirement Homes

Abstract

Due to an increase in the number of the aging population in Malaysia, the need for retirement homes to cater to the demands of the aging population has become very challenging. Hence, the aim of this paper is to scrutinize the association between retirement home internal environment (RHIE), basic requirement regulations (BRR) of retirement homes, and retirement home performance (RHP). For the pilot study, 50 subjects were selected to fill out the questionnaire and reliability analysis of the items in the questionnaire was run. The findings of the pilot study depicted that the items were highly reliable. Following this, 400 questionnaires were distributed equally to four retirement homes in Selangor, Johor, Kelantan, and Kuala Lumpur (with 100 questionnaires to each retirement home). Out of this figure, 210 subjects responded to the survey; however, only 205 were complete and used for the study. The findings indicated that there was a significant association a) between RHIE with RHP; b) between BRR with RHP; and c) between RHIE and BRR. Most of the tenants agreed that RHIE should have elderly-centric treatment, good relationship between the elderly and professionals, and adequate daily activities. The tenants also agreed that BRR should ensure that transport and medical assistance, a multi-purpose card for the elderly, and a supply of food bank be provided for the elderly. The retirement home tenants agreed that RHP depends on the increase in the number of tenants and check-in, food quality as well as facilities, and availability of equipment for basic health screening. The findings of this study have implications for enhancement of government-operated or privately-owned retirement homes.