Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
197,768 studies31 sourcesUpdated 11 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Frontiers in Public Health

Aging in place in urban and rural contexts—Voices of community nurses from Austria

  • Tatjana Fischer1
  • Anita Sackl2
  • Karl Moder3
  1. 1Department of Landscape, Water and Infrastructure, Institute of Spatial Planning, Environmental Planning and Land Rearrangement, BOKU University
  2. 2Department for Health Professions and Long-Term Care, Austrian National Public Health Institute
  3. 3Department of Natural Sciences and Sustainable Resources, Institute of Statistics, BOKU University
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

The present study explores the place-based knowledge on “aging in place” of community nurses (CNs) in Austria to gain insights in the suitability of urban and rural municipalities as places for residence at old age. An online survey was conducted at the end of 2024. Records of 23 CNs out of 273 registered CNs were included. The information was coded using the health determinants model by Dahlgren & Whitehead and statistically analyzed using Fisher's exact test and Cohen's Kappa for assessing information consistency. Due to the small sample size and the number of missing values the results are presented in a descriptive manner. It was found that 1. CNs working in rural municipalities tendentially identify older adults as a particularly vulnerable population group and 2. CNs working 20+ hours a week claim a lack of caring and caregiving relatives. Moreover, on the one hand CNs consider unsuitable living (housing) conditions and (risk of) poverty in old age as major challenges hampering a decent aging in place, on the other hand above all demographic change having considerable impact on day-to-day work of CNs in the future. Although the empirical findings are neither representative for Austria nor for different spatial types of municipalities the responses are in line with international literature and thus may serve as a starting point for an interdisciplinary debate between spatial planners and public health experts on metrics for assessing the age-friendliness of municipalities.

Related

  1. Voices from the rural frontline: deconstructing communication barriers, strategies, and training needs of indonesian community health workers
    Kurniawan Kurniawan, Khoirunnisa Khoirunnisa, Dwi Masrina +3
    BMC Public HealthPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Epidemiology & public healthCrossref
  2. Voices from the front line: Community health workers’ perspectives on effectiveness and needs in Madagascar’s tuberculosis response
    Onja Gabrielle Ravololohanitra, Alphonsine Razanamiarana, Michel Tiaray Harison +6
    PLOS Global Public HealthPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textEpidemiology & public healthInfectious diseasePLOSEurope PMC
  3. Community Health Nurses’ Perceptions of Emerging Artificial Intelligence and its Impact on Nursing Practice: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study
    Mary Henderson Betkus, Davina Banner, Leanne M. Currie +2
    The Canadian Journal of Nursing ResearchPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC 4.0Full textEpidemiology & public healthPMC
  4. Clinical Decision-Making Among Community Nurses: A Comparative Human and Generative AI-Assisted Qualitative Analysis.
    Chedva Levin, Dor Zafar, Mor Saban
    Nursing openPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMCPMC
  5. Tai Chi practice and community belonging in active aging: embodied, relational, and place-based embedding in a Beijing community
    Lei Zhang, Xinru Liu, Jinli Jiang +3
    Frontiers in Public HealthPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Epidemiology & public healthFrontiersCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{fischer2026aging,
  title = {{Aging in place in urban and rural contexts—Voices of community nurses from Austria}},
  author = {Tatjana Fischer and Anita Sackl and Karl Moder},
  journal = {Frontiers in Public Health},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2026.1869649},
  url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1869649/full},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Aging in place in urban and rural contexts—Voices of community nurses from Austria
AU  - Tatjana Fischer
AU  - Anita Sackl
AU  - Karl Moder
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/22
JO  - Frontiers in Public Health
DO  - 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1869649
UR  - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1869649/full
AB  - The present study explores the place-based knowledge on “aging in place” of community nurses (CNs) in Austria to gain insights in the suitability of urban and rural municipalities as places for residence at old age. An online survey was conducted at the end of 2024. Records of 23 CNs out of 273 registered CNs were included. The information was coded using the health determinants model by Dahlgren & Whitehead and statistically analyzed using Fisher's exact test and Cohen's Kappa for assessing information consistency. Due to the small sample size and the number of missing values the results are presented in a descriptive manner. It was found that 1. CNs working in rural municipalities tendentially identify older adults as a particularly vulnerable population group and 2. CNs working 20+ hours a week claim a lack of caring and caregiving relatives. Moreover, on the one hand CNs consider unsuitable living (housing) conditions and (risk of) poverty in old age as major challenges hampering a decent aging in place, on the other hand above all demographic change having considerable impact on day-to-day work of CNs in the future. Although the empirical findings are neither representative for Austria nor for different spatial types of municipalities the responses are in line with international literature and thus may serve as a starting point for an interdisciplinary debate between spatial planners and public health experts on metrics for assessing the age-friendliness of municipalities.
SN  - 2296-2565
ER  -