Newswise — Are older Americans prisoners of their stuff? They are, says University of Kansas gerontologist David J. Ekerdt, if it keeps them from living as independently, safely and healthily as possible.
Ekerdt is conducting the first scholarly study of what he calls household disbandment — or downsizing — for the National Institute on Aging with colleagues Mark Luborsky and Cathy Lysack at Wayne State University in Detroit.
The three-year Household Moves Project will follow 100 individuals and couples 65 and older in the greater Kansas City area, Lawrence, Kan., and the Detroit area from the time they decide to move to smaller living spaces to after the move.
"Simply put, we're asking elders about dealing with their stuff," said Ekerdt. "How did you do it and how did you feel about it before and after the move."
The premise of the study is that people lose the ability to manage the thousands of possessions in an average household, their house and property, and this becomes an obstacle to moving to a safer neighborhood, nearer to family members or into assisted living.
"Everyone we talked to firmly believes this," Ekerdt said, "geriatricians, social workers, estate sellers, retirement community directors and family members." The project has garnered interest from two national retirement community owners, Erickson Living and Brookdale Senior Living, that are assisting with participant recruiting before moves to facilities in Kansas City and Detroit.
Why is it so hard to get rid of stuff? Ekerdt and his colleagues are finding several reasons.
It is really tough physical labor to take apart a household and box it up or dispose of it, of course, but before that comes the cognitive work of sorting and planning the move and the wrenching emotional process of releasing things that define and express us.
If you are a mother, what does it mean to let go of things that symbolize your motherhood, like the big platter you used for the Thanksgiving turkey?
One project participant had moved out his home into an apartment building that later caught fire. After that, he moved from place to place before finally settling down. But astonishingly, said Ekerdt, he was moving three sets of encyclopedias each time because "I would not have left my books. Those are treasure."
Books are what Ekerdt calls "sticky" possessions — they stick with people through moves more than anything else except family photographs.
While acknowledging that there are home organizers and move specialists as well as a whole sub-genre of self-help literature for elders on moving into smaller quarters, Ekerdt doubts that many people do or will follow these routes. "These experts can be helpful, but if you need to exercise, you will be probably be doing it by yourself. You won't be hiring a personal trainer."
But you will need family members who can help by giving your possessions a good home and relieving you of deciding how to dispose of them, Ekerdt advised. "And not just special things, but mundane possessions like the products under your sink or in your medicine cabinet."
Another early observation from the Household Moves Project: once you get through the move, you will most likely be glad you did it.
"As gerontologists, we are trying to understand how this can be an adaptation — an achievement to do this because you are actually selecting and choosing who you are going to be next and this can be very gratifying."
The study will include people from a range of socioeconomic levels and ages moving into apartments or assisted living facilities, excluding those moving to skilled nursing facilities who undergo what Ekerdt calls a "radical stripping."
The research group also will contribute questions to the ongoing National Institute of Aging Health and Retirement Study directed at those older Americans who don't move, asking how they manage their property and if possessions are a potential obstacle to relocation.
Things are not inert Ekerdt explains. They have latent or hidden labor in them and demand more and more time. "We're not saying that there is anything wrong with having things or even a lot of things, but there does come a time in many of our lives when we can't deal with them anymore and we ultimately do become prisoners of our space and stuff."
For more information go the Household Moves Project web page at lsi.ku.edu/research/projects/Ekerdt_D/household_moves_project.shtml
The University of Kansas' Life Span Institute's 13 centers have researched, advised and trained about human and community development, disabilities and aging since 1992.
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