Assessment of elders' health promotion needs in a Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Community

Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) support elders “aging in place”. Kennedy (2006) and Masotti et al. (2006) argue that NORCs are a prime target for providing health promotion services. To examine the extent to which seniors in a neighborhood NORC would utilize various health promotion services, we conducted two needs assessments by surveying random samples of residents (N=170 and N=250). The NORC that was examined consists of mostly single, middle-class family homes within a 2.5 square mile neighborhood with 1937 residents aged 60+ (US Census, 2005). Results indicated that 91% reported at least one health condition (e.g., heart disease), yet 33% perceived their health as very good or excellent. The number of health conditions and self-perceived health were not correlated, r=.04, p=.64. Twenty-five percent reported an interest in NORC-provided health education, 21% were interested in health screenings, and 21% in exercise programs. There were no statistically significant relationships between respondents' perceived health, number of health conditions, and interest in health programs, ps > .05. Results also showed that 10% were very interested in a support group for coping with chronic illness and 11% were definitely interested in NORC-provided health advocacy services. Overall, results suggest low interest in NORC-provided health programs. Future research should assess whether these results generalize to other neighborhood NORCs, and if these results are due to residents perceiving their health needs as already being met by their primary care physician, or the extent to which they do not perceive a need for community-based health education and promotion.