Nudge-Based Intervention for Cognitive Enhancement of Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities During Fire Evacuation According to Urgent-Level Circumstances

The cognitive ability of the elderly significantly influences evacuation performance in urgent situations. Despite its importance, many fire evacuation studies overlook the impact of cognitive ability on elderly evacuation performance. To address this gap, this study employs multicriteria decision-m...

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Main Authors: Jihye Ryu, Sung-Kyung Kim, Hye-Kyoung Lee, Won-Hwa Hong, Young-Chan Kim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Buildings
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/8/1269
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author Jihye Ryu
Sung-Kyung Kim
Hye-Kyoung Lee
Won-Hwa Hong
Young-Chan Kim
author_facet Jihye Ryu
Sung-Kyung Kim
Hye-Kyoung Lee
Won-Hwa Hong
Young-Chan Kim
author_sort Jihye Ryu
collection DOAJ
description The cognitive ability of the elderly significantly influences evacuation performance in urgent situations. Despite its importance, many fire evacuation studies overlook the impact of cognitive ability on elderly evacuation performance. To address this gap, this study employs multicriteria decision-making to identify nudging factors that enhance the cognitive abilities of the elderly during fire evacuations in long-term care facilities. Based on a literature review, key nudging factors include guidance lights, guide lines, handrails, and guidance equipment, with sub-criteria such as location, color, size, and intervals. Experts from academic and practical fields analyzed the nudging factors, followed by a hybrid analytic hierarchy process (AHP–TOPSIS) analysis. The findings emphasize the necessity of providing auditory information through guidance equipment (e.g., voice evacuation system) in high-level scenarios (practice experts AHP: 0.31) and visual information through the continuous installation of guide lines in strategic locations (academic experts AHP: 0.35) to facilitate efficient evacuation. As a result, this study confirms both the differing and concordant opinions among expert groups while recognizing the absolute necessity of elderly evacuation research and considering the unique challenges that prevent actual evacuation experiments with elderly individuals. By synthesizing these perspectives, the study derives the weights and ranks of nudging factors based on urgent-level circumstances, thereby conducting a quantitative assessment of factors that enhance cognitive ability during elderly evacuation. The findings of this study can serve as a basis for future evacuation policy formulation for elderly-related facilities and, as a derivative effect, contribute to ensuring the life safety of elderly individuals within the local community.
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spelling doaj-art-2b480b57f4014edcb6deb0b17b30ad9c2025-08-20T02:24:45ZengMDPI AGBuildings2075-53092025-04-01158126910.3390/buildings15081269Nudge-Based Intervention for Cognitive Enhancement of Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities During Fire Evacuation According to Urgent-Level CircumstancesJihye Ryu0Sung-Kyung Kim1Hye-Kyoung Lee2Won-Hwa Hong3Young-Chan Kim4Convergence Institute of Construction, Environmental and Energy Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of KoreaConvergence Institute of Construction, Environmental and Energy Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of KoreaA3 Architecture Institute, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of KoreaSchool of Architectural, Civil, Environmental and Energy Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of KoreaDivision of Smart Safety Engineering, Dongguk University-WISE, Gyeongju 38066, Republic of KoreaThe cognitive ability of the elderly significantly influences evacuation performance in urgent situations. Despite its importance, many fire evacuation studies overlook the impact of cognitive ability on elderly evacuation performance. To address this gap, this study employs multicriteria decision-making to identify nudging factors that enhance the cognitive abilities of the elderly during fire evacuations in long-term care facilities. Based on a literature review, key nudging factors include guidance lights, guide lines, handrails, and guidance equipment, with sub-criteria such as location, color, size, and intervals. Experts from academic and practical fields analyzed the nudging factors, followed by a hybrid analytic hierarchy process (AHP–TOPSIS) analysis. The findings emphasize the necessity of providing auditory information through guidance equipment (e.g., voice evacuation system) in high-level scenarios (practice experts AHP: 0.31) and visual information through the continuous installation of guide lines in strategic locations (academic experts AHP: 0.35) to facilitate efficient evacuation. As a result, this study confirms both the differing and concordant opinions among expert groups while recognizing the absolute necessity of elderly evacuation research and considering the unique challenges that prevent actual evacuation experiments with elderly individuals. By synthesizing these perspectives, the study derives the weights and ranks of nudging factors based on urgent-level circumstances, thereby conducting a quantitative assessment of factors that enhance cognitive ability during elderly evacuation. The findings of this study can serve as a basis for future evacuation policy formulation for elderly-related facilities and, as a derivative effect, contribute to ensuring the life safety of elderly individuals within the local community.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/8/1269elderly evacuation performancecognitive abilitynudging factorsfire evacuationmulti-criteria decision making (AHP–TOPSIS)
spellingShingle Jihye Ryu
Sung-Kyung Kim
Hye-Kyoung Lee
Won-Hwa Hong
Young-Chan Kim
Nudge-Based Intervention for Cognitive Enhancement of Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities During Fire Evacuation According to Urgent-Level Circumstances
Buildings
elderly evacuation performance
cognitive ability
nudging factors
fire evacuation
multi-criteria decision making (AHP–TOPSIS)
title Nudge-Based Intervention for Cognitive Enhancement of Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities During Fire Evacuation According to Urgent-Level Circumstances
title_full Nudge-Based Intervention for Cognitive Enhancement of Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities During Fire Evacuation According to Urgent-Level Circumstances
title_fullStr Nudge-Based Intervention for Cognitive Enhancement of Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities During Fire Evacuation According to Urgent-Level Circumstances
title_full_unstemmed Nudge-Based Intervention for Cognitive Enhancement of Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities During Fire Evacuation According to Urgent-Level Circumstances
title_short Nudge-Based Intervention for Cognitive Enhancement of Elderly in Long-Term Care Facilities During Fire Evacuation According to Urgent-Level Circumstances
title_sort nudge based intervention for cognitive enhancement of elderly in long term care facilities during fire evacuation according to urgent level circumstances
topic elderly evacuation performance
cognitive ability
nudging factors
fire evacuation
multi-criteria decision making (AHP–TOPSIS)
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/8/1269
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