Cohabitants’ Experiences of Daily Activities and Expectations on How the Housing Adaptation Will Affect Their Own and Their Partners’ Daily Activities

Abstract: The aim of this qualitative research was to describe the cohabitant’s experience of their daily activities and how they expect that housing adaptation (HA) will affect their own and their partners’ daily activ-ities. Cohabitant means a person who lives in the same residence as the client, with or without giving care to the client. The study included interviewing four cohabitants, all men and aged more that 65 years, to clients who applied for an HA. Interview data was analyzed according to qualitative content analysis. Results: Cohabitants experienced that in the daily life, they needed to be available on demand and give help, they felt worried, were doing their own activities, and experienced being limited in the choice of their desired activities. The other part of the result shows that cohabitants expected the HA to imply benefits for both their own and their partners’ type of activities. Conclusion: According to the Swedish legislation, HA is an intervention applied only for clients, but the current study shows that the cohabitants expected that HA would be of benefit to their own daily activities as well. However, the cohabitants expressed that the partners’ functioning were more important than how the HA would make the house look.