Designing an Ergonomic Bathroom for Elderly

Generally, the elderly face a decline in physical, psychomotor, and sensory abilities. As a result of those changing conditions, the elderly have different needs compared to those who are younger. Most of the facilities in elderly homes still use the same design for adults in general, not specifically designed for the elderly, including bathrooms. Based on related literature studies, it was found that the number of accidents in the bathroom by the elderly continues to increase every year and older women have a higher risk of falling than men. Therefore, this research was conducted to produce an ergonomic bathroom design for older women. The research flow used in this study was adapted from 4 phases in the Design Process by Hanington & Martin (2019). To evaluate the design result, a target users' feedback data collection and virtual posture analysis using the RULA, OWAS, and LBA methods were conducted. The results show that all respondents were satisfied with the final design after going through the refinement phases and there are no problems in all postures tested when carrying out various activities in the final design.