Newswise — More communities nationwide will have an opportunity to improve the lives of low-income, older adults through the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing’s innovative CAPABLE program, which will be implemented by Habitat for Humanity in six new areas across the United States.
Short for Community Aging in Place—Advancing Better Living for Elders, CAPABLE was co-developed by JHSON endowed professor for health equity and social justice Sarah L. Szanton and colleagues to support aging-in-place services for low-income older adults. Through the new partnership, JHSON and Habitat will work together to expand Habitat’s current work of improving the overall condition of homes to include collaborating with health professionals to address the home’s usability and safety and the health of its owner—cornerstones of the CAPABLE program.
“This will help bring even more services to low-income, older adults, who often have reduced access to primary care and little financial means to provide necessary updates that can make their homes safer,” says Szanton, PhD, ANP, FAAN. “It will be of great benefit to Habitat’s vision for housing and stability for individuals and families and another opportunity to expand CAPABLE’s reach.”
Within the six cities selected for CAPABLE, JHSON and Habitat will measure improvement and analyze results of the implementation.
CAPABLE, currently used in 22 cities in 11 states and Australia, is a research-based intervention that helps increase strength, mobility, and safety of older adults through home visits from a nurse, occupational therapist, and handyman. The program lets patients set their own functional goals, like bathing or walking to church, while improving their living environment through renovations like installing hand rails or lowering shelves. It has been shown to decrease disability and depression, improve self-care among participants, and provide a tenfold return on investment.
Throughout the years, CAPABLE has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation. This new collaboration with Habitat is being funded by a donation to Habitat from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.
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Located in Baltimore, the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing is a globally-recognized leader in nursing education, research and practice and ranks No. 1 nationally among graduate schools of nursing and No. 2 for DNP programs in the U.S. News & World Report 2019 rankings. In addition, the school is ranked by QS World University as the No. 3 nursing school in the world and is No.1 by College Choice for its master’s program. For more information, visit www.nursing.jhu.edu
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