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The research uses an open approach focused on participants’ accounts of what “keeping warm” means in context, including personal logics and beliefs. Findings draw on 21 Birmingham households across higher- and lower-income categories, using repeated semi-structured interviews and photo diaries. 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Each household was visited twice for long semi-structured interviews and also completed a photo diary for a few days during a cold period.",{"name":118,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":119},"What did the study find about central heating and wellbeing?",{"text":120,"@type":112},"Most participants viewed warmth as crucial to wellbeing and believed they needed more warmth with age, especially when living with chronic health conditions. Central heating was generally seen as beneficial and a technological advance, though agreement varied.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":123,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":125,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":127,"site_id":62},639239,1792702568,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":130},{"doc_id":127,"user_id":131,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":26,"language":138,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":139,"faqs":140,"seo_title":141,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":128,"read_time":142},1374391975076,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/14000253ca4ec9f6853?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1783305029341752051","OLDER PEOPLE AND THEIR WINTER WARMTH BEHAVIOURS:  \nunderstanding the contextual dynamics  \nOlder people and their winter warmth behaviours: understanding the contextual dynamics  \nby  \nRosie Day & Russell Hitchings  \nNovember 2009  \nCONTENTS  \nExecutive Summary  .....................................1  \n1 . Project Rationale and Aims  .............................4  \n2 . Study Design and Methods  .............................6  \n3 . Table 1 . Our Participants and their Circumstances  ........10  \n4 . Ageing, Health and Warmth  ...........................14  \n5 . Home Heating Systems  ...............................16  \n6 . Other Techniques for Managing Warmth  .................20  \n7 . During the Winter Nights  ..............................24  \n8 . Money Matters  ......................................26  \n9 . Warmth out of the House  .............................31  \n10 . The Role of Social Networks  ..........................34  \n11 . Generational Norms  .................................37  \n12 . Useful Interventions  .................................41  \n13 . Futures  ...........................................48  \n14 . Conclusions and Policy Implications  ..................50  \n15 . Acknowledgements and References  ...................55  \nFor further information:  \nDr Rosie Day  \nDepartment of Geography University of Birmingham  \nEdgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT[r.j.day@bham.ac.uk](r.j.day@bham.ac.uk)[ ](r.j.day@bham.ac.uk)0121 414 8096  \nDr Russell Hitchings  \nUCL Department of Geography University College London Gower Street  \nLondon  \nWC1E 6BT[r.hitchings@ucl.ac.uk](r.hitchings@ucl.ac.uk)  \n0207 679 5426  \nEXECUTIVE SUMMARY  \nThis report presents the findings of a qualitative research project that sought to generate new insights about how contemporary older people in the UK respond to the advent of winter cold and why they choose to manage their winter warmth in the ways they do. Rather than starting with specific policy framings, it took a deliberately open approach, talking with older people about how exactly they kept warm during winter and the various contextual factors influencing these choices. The rationale was that by taking this approach to understanding the ways in which our participants thought it best to deal with winter cold, we might generate fresh insights into where the most effective points of future intervention may be, and where such interventions need to be sensitive to the personal logicsand beliefs underpinning the winter warmth choices that older people currently make. In this respect, our interests cut across issues of both sustainable domestic energy use and the wider winter welfare of older people.  \nThe participants in our study were 21 households in the Birmingham area. We recruited households in 2 categories: one being more affluent, and the other being on relatively low incomes. The aim was to draw out the extent to which winter warmth practices were common across the generational cohort irrespective of wealth and to reveal the times when income levels continued to make significant impacts. Each household was visited at home twice for a long semi-structured interview, once at the start of the winter in late 2008 and once towards the end of winter in early 2009. Participants were also asked to complete a photo diary for a few days during a cold period, documenting their warmth-related practices.  \nWe found that most of these older households felt that warmth was crucial to their wellbeing and tended to think they needed more warmth as they got older, especially if suffering from chronic health conditions. Most households thought that central heating was a good thing and a technological advance to be embraced as part of modern living, though there was not total agreement on this. Although sometimes nostalgic about heating practices in the past, there was no appetite for returning to previous, more laborious, ways of keeping warm. Heating routines tended to be quite well established and subject to ","cbCaivt1Aipsmg2m","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivt1Aipsmg2m","pdf",4061011,"English","# Executive Summary\n# Project Rationale and Aims\n# Study Design and Methods\n# Table 1. Our Participants and their Circumstances\n# Ageing, Health and Warmth\n# Home Heating Systems\n# Other Techniques for Managing Warmth\n# During the Winter Nights\n# Money Matters\n# Warmth out of the House\n# The Role of Social Networks\n# Generational Norms\n# Useful Interventions\n# Futures\n# Conclusions and Policy Implications\n# Acknowledgements and References","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of this report?\",\"answer\":\"The report presents findings from a qualitative project examining how older people in the UK respond to winter cold and why they manage their winter warmth in the ways they do, to inform effective and sensitive future interventions.\"},{\"question\":\"How were participants recruited and what data were collected?\",\"answer\":\"The study involved 21 Birmingham households split into more affluent and relatively low-income categories. Each household was visited twice for long semi-structured interviews and also completed a photo diary for a few days during a cold period.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the study find about central heating and wellbeing?\",\"answer\":\"Most participants viewed warmth as crucial to wellbeing and believed they needed more warmth with age, especially when living with chronic health conditions. Central heating was generally seen as beneficial and a technological advance, though agreement varied.\"}]","OLDER PEOPLE AND THEIR WINTER WARMTH BEHAVIOURS - understanding the contextual dynamics | PDF",151]