This qualitative research study addressed the gap in the literature and lack of clinical guidelines and frameworks for health professionals as they assess and manage risk when balancing the safety and autonomy of community-dwelling older adults. Twelve health professionals were asked in individual interviews how they perceive, identify, assess and treat risk and how they negotiate the safety and autonomy of their clients. Informed by grounded theory methodology, the findings revealed what kinds of decisions health professionals made and how they made them within this clinical context. These findings from the perspective of the health professional contributed to the development of a definition of living at risk, a safety continuum and a conceptual/practice framework to help health professionals, including occupational therapists, make sound clinical decisions as they balance the autonomy and safety of their community-dwelling older adult clients.

Ageing has become a significant research area in the last few decades. The most important reason that makes ageing issue significant is the increasing rate of the older indviduals within the population all around the world. Statistical data on ageing both in Turkey and in the world reveals that, in the near future, the number of population over 65 will increase dramatically. It can be asserted that there will be an urgent need of specifically designed accommodation for this portion of the population. Hence, this thesis intends to search for and practice a design solution for the elderly housing. One of the instruments that supported the formulation of such a solution is the subject of &lsquo / universal design&rsquo / . Within the scope of this study, the principles of universal design and its relationship with ageing are defined, examined and evaluated. It is accepted that living environment has effect on the enhancement of the individual&rsquo / s quality of life. For this reason, the relationship between person and environment is briefly discussed in congruence with principles of universal design and provision of quality of life. Accessibility, safety, privacy, autonomy and independence are the common concerns of universal design and provision of a higher quality of life. With review of the definitions of specific elderly housing types, another approach for this study is to make a case study of the existing architectural solutions for the elderly housing. This helped to understand architectural approaches to the relationship between ageing and environment in the world. In the light of the findings, an architectural project, presenting a habitable environment for the elderly, is proposed. For the project, the concept of &ldquo / assisted living&rdquo / as a new category for elderly housing, is chosen.