Conserving Habitus: Home,Couplehood and Dementia

ABSTRACT

Compared to research on home in circumstances of aging, place and care, our knowledge about home in relation to couplehood is limited despite increases in the percentage of married and cohabiting older people in the UK. Specifically, our understanding of the experience and meaning of home for couples where one partner has dementia remains under-explored. This article presents a scoping review of published empirical literature to examine older couples’ experiences of home in dementia. The literature identified and reviewed through searching academic databases and Google Scholar is interdisciplinary and a thematic analysis suggests interactions of couplehood, home and dementia. To discuss these interactions, we use Bourdieu’s framework of field, capital, practice and habitus. We observe that habitus may gradually alter and fracture. But, in locating and supporting the performance of (adapted) everyday relationships and domestic practices, home has a distinct role in contributing to conserving habitus and in turn continuity of relationships and home. The gradual fracturing of habitus with the progression of dementia however also suggests that the continuity of relationships and home remain contingent, but this needs further investigation. It is an element of home futures that cannot remain invisible.     

Homemaking,Temporality and Later Life

Abstract

While much literature has focused on the meaning of home, relatively little has been conducted on homemaking in later life. This paper demonstrates the importance of time in conceptualizations of home. Using an extensive case study from a multi-interview study with eight older people in England, it is shown that gardening can form the basis of a temporal framework which structures a life. Importantly, gardening can seem essential in homemaking and a reason not to move to residential living. This paper builds on literature that suggests home is a process and that people’s conceptualization and experience of home develop throughout their lives. As ageing and dying have become long and complicated processes, it is argued older people may find this challenging as this makes it difficult to prepare for the end of life.     

Environmental Evaluations and Modifications to Support Aging at Home With a Developmental Disability

ABSTRACT

Increasing numbers of people with developmental disabilities are living into old age and are now residing in community-based housing, largely due to the deinstitutionalization movement. The overlay of age-related impairments onto pre-existing, lifelong disabilities puts this population at a magnified risk for premature behavioral limitations and loss of independence. This article describes a demonstration project designed to enable people with developmental disabilities to age in place. Interviews and observational assessments with 45 older adults with developmental disabilities were conducted in their community-based homes to identify potential barriers to aging in place. An Individualized Environmental Intervention Plan was developed for each study participant, recommending ways to solve problems and eliminate potential barriers. Individualized Environmental Intervention Plans were implemented to the extent possible through home modifications and assistive technology. Pre- and post-modification task performance and self-report revealed the positive impact that home modifications and assistive technology can have. The study demonstrates the need for ongoing evaluation and assessment sensitive to the needs of people with developmental disabilities and the unique characteristics of supported living settings.     

A Descriptive Study of Home Modifications for People with Dementia and Barriers to Implementation

This study describes home environmental features, safety issues, and health-related modifications in a community dwelling sample of 82 elderly people with dementia. Main barriers to the accessibility of the homes were steps both inside and outside the home. The majority of the caregivers had made home modifications that pertained mainly to physical limitations. Home modifications to support cognitive deficits were made to a lesser extent. The main barrier to the implementation of home modifications to accommodate the care recipient's memory loss was skepticism about their usefulness. Regarding the removal of physical barriers, financial constraints were most frequently mentioned.     

My Room,My Home,My Self

Abstract

The material culture of home cannot be supplanted in its entirety when moving into an aged care facility. When the time comes, the decision of what to take and what to leave behind is not simple. This article presents the balance between practical and emotional considerations in the choice and presence of personal objects in the rooms of residents. Intersubjective relationships between material objects in the room and the people who enter that space is viewed through a narrative lens. In this way, it is the materiality of the room-as-home for the self, which is key. Three major themes relating to the objects in the room of the older person were found to be: 1. Safety, 2. Family, and 3. Home. These themes emerged from ethnographic research in an aged care setting. Participants included residents, their families, care staff, and management of the facility. The article contributes to understandings of material objects as carriers of identity and meaning in an aged care facility.     

Perceived Aspects of Home Environment and Home Modifications by Older People Living in Rural Areas

This study investigated the relationships between the “perceived aspects” of current home environment of elderly people living in rural areas and their home modification behavior. To investigate this perception, home satisfaction, perception of home capability, and home safety were used as perceived aspects of the home. Data were collected by a questionnaire. The response rate was 43.1%, with 317 eligible questionnaires. The results from this study indicate that there was no significant difference in perceived aspects of home environment between those who modified their homes and those who did not. Regardless of their current home conditions, most elderly respondents (75%) showed high home satisfaction. Results from this study suggest that a modified home environment does not necessarily contribute to an older person's perception of perceived aspects of their home environment.     

Towards Critical Intersections of Ageing,Housing and Well-Being

ABSTRACT

Across the life course, far-reaching socio-demographic and health related transformations are influencing the meaning of home in the UK. The collection presented in this Special Issue of Home Futures critically interjects into the ‘where and when’ of dwelling during the process of ageing with key concepts explored within this introductory article. It argues that, change is seen through the disruption of conventional ideas of ageing ‘at home’, traditional understandings of ‘the older person’ and its corollary social imaginaries, alongside the relationship between care practices and homes. Many of these shifts are being addressed through a range of emerging housing (and collaborative) alternatives. The article concludes by considering how discussions in this special issue disclose the home, from a range of social and material angles, as a diverse process and experience of meaning making over time, deeply entangled with health and well-being, disrupting traditional understandings of ‘place making’ in later life.     

Examining the Nursing Home Physical Environment Through Policy-Driven Culture Change

A critical need exists to challenge approaches to nursing home care due to rigid organizational factors and hospital-like culture. It has been argued that resident care needs to move toward a person-centered approach by addressing the organizational, social, and physical environments in nursing home facilities, a process often known as culture change. In response to this need, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has created funding for pay for performance (P4P) nursing home incentive programs to allow nursing home providers to receive CMS reimbursements for culture change in the facilities. Through care staff interviews, site observations, and a document review, this qualitative study assesses the impact of a Midwestern state P4P incentive program in three participating nursing homes. Using an environment and behavior (E-B) policy orientation framework, this study examines culture change through a focus on policy, the physical environment, place attachment, and social and psychological processes in the study settings.     

Aging in Place at Home Through Environmental Support of Physical Activity: An Interdisciplinary Conceptual Framework and Analysis

This article presents a conceptual framework to link issues of health, services, physical activity, and environment to help older adults age in place in their own homes, which may reduce the demands on society to provide institutional long-term care. Using environments to promote physical activity has received attention by researchers, but its impact on aging-in-place at home has been largely ignored. This article interprets and synthesizes existing studies on aging-in-place in relation to health and services, contributions of physical activity to health and service accessibility, and environmental support of physical activity. The conceptual framework can serve as the core construct to address gaps in previous research and as a tool to refine practical targets for policies and interventions aimed at promoting healthy aging.     

A Descriptive Study of Home Modifications for People with Dementia and Barriers to Implementation

This study describes home environmental features, safety issues, and health-related modifications in a community dwelling sample of 82 elderly people with dementia. Main barriers to the accessibility of the homes were steps, both inside and outside the house. The majority of the caregivers had made home modifications, which pertained mainly to physical limitations. Home modifications to support cognitive deficits were made to a lesser extent. The main barrier to the implementation of home modifications to accommodate the care recipient's memory loss was skepticism about their usefulness. Regarding the removal of physical barriers, financial constraints were most frequently mentioned.     

Interpreting Home in the Transnational Discourse

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to present a selection of primary findings culled from empirical data collected in Dublin with post-European Union enlargement Polish migrants as the cohort in study. One aspect of the project was to investigate how that group interpreted home since they have left Poland. Based on the outcomes of interviews with thirty-one informants, the narratives reveal a group of individuals who continuously contest social constraints and push the boundaries of previously held notions of migration, identity, and home. This article situates their aspirations, preferences, and practices within discourses of transnationalism, thereby connecting their migration experiences with a consciousness of feeling at home in the world. This article breaks up “home” as interpreted by the informants into three categories—centered home, sentimental home, and transportable home. The wide range of perspectives held by informants and the inability to clearly define their position with regard to the notion of “home” reinforces the hypothesis of this article that, for a transnational cohort, the meaning of home is contested. In relation to the wider international literature regarding concepts of home, this article makes a contribution to the deepening scope of migration research in Ireland.     

Physical Home Environment as a Determinant of Aging in Place for Different Types of Elderly Households

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between physical housing features and home modifications to aging in place or precipitating a housing transition among elderly households. Data was taken from two waves (1998 and 2000) of the Health and Retirement Survey. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were performed. Residing in a multi-family home without an elevator was a predictor for housing transition for couple households, while residing in a home with small interior modifications was a predictor for remaining in place for single households. Implications for policy makers, health care providers, housing industry and elderly are discussed.     

“No Place Like Home?”

Abstract

The concept of “home” is subject to individual interpretations; a “home” may be conceived of as a physical space, such as a building/house, a geographical space such as a street, a town or a community, or a place where meaningful social relationships and/or kinship are fostered. Consider, then, what would happen to our understandings of “home” if seen from the perspectives of young people that are “home-less” and estranged from their families and kin groups, sometimes due to their sexual orientation. This article presents results from a research project conducted together with Kentish homelessness charity Porchlight. The aim of the research is to formulate an understanding of the lived realities of homeless LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) youth (ages 16–25). Young people who identify as LGB or T are often victims of hate crime, bullying, harassment, violence, oppression, discrimination, and social exclusion in the home, in schools, and in the community at large. In many cases, these factors can contribute to alienation from the family home and subsequently result in homelessness. Here, I look specifically at how young people experience home and homelessness in relation to kin and social relationships, and drawing from anthropological literature on “the house”, “home”, kinship and “liminality”, I consider how these concepts can better inform our understanding of LGBT youth homelessness.     

Moving to and Living in a Retirement Home

Abstract

Bad health combined witii deteriorating physical functions force many elderly people to move to a retirement home. The primary focus of this study was to investigate the resident's experience of safety and security. From a sample of 57 residents, 12 persons volunteered to participate in the interview. Data were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. The standard and design of the participant's previous home made mobility difficult and this affected their sense of security. This motivated them to move into an environment where they felt more secure. The environment at the retirement home was predominantly described as secure and safe. The finding shows that the participants felt that safety and security were more important than independence.     

Happy Living in Darkness! Indoor Lighting in Relation to Activities of Daily Living,Visual and General Health in 75-Year-Olds Living at Home

ABSTRACT

Lighting has been identified as a significant environmental attribute for promoting vision and general health among older people, enabling successful aging at home, but it has received little attention in the literature. Indoor lighting levels, self-reported vision and general health, and activities of daily life were measured in 114 healthy 75-year-old Norwegians. Despite very low levels of indoor lighting, the subjects were happy and healthy. There is a large discrepancy between self-assessed health and recommended lighting levels, and low awareness of the effect of lighting on age-related vision loss or daily living in the future. Knowledge of how to utilize indoor lighting to ensure healthy and safe aging in the home is needed.     

Client Satisfaction with Live-In and Live-Out Home Care Workers in Israel

Abstract

In an era of globalization where the migration of long-term care workers is common, foreign live-in home care workers can compensate for the unavailability of family members and, perhaps, even substitute for institutional care in the provision of long-term care services to disabled older persons.

This study examines differences in home care satisfaction between disabled older persons in Israel with “live-in” home care workers and those with “live-out” workers, and explores some differences in socio-demographic and personal characteristics between these two groups. Face-to-face interviews were held with a random sample of 93 older persons in Beer-Sheva.

Older persons with live-in home care workers were more satisfied with their home care service than those with live-out workers. Those with live-in workers were more severely disabled, tended not to have any children living in close proximity, although an adult child was available as an informal caregiver. Communication difficulties between the elderly persons and their home care workers were found not to affect negatively the satisfaction with the service.     

The Physical Housing Environment and Subjective Well-Being Among Older People Using Long-Term Care Services in Japan

Abstract

For older people using long-term care services, the conditions of their life-space may be critical. The relationships between the physical housing environment and aspects of health were examined among older people in Japan (aged 65+ years, N?=?1,928) by multivariable logistic regression analysis, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Lack of safety, low access to emergency assistance, low or high indoor temperature, poor sanitary conditions, and state of home disrepair were significantly associated with negative aspects of health among people with low activities of daily living (ADL) independence. Home care service providers and policymakers need to consider the importance of appropriate environmental conditions for the most vulnerable groups.     

Altering the Curriculum of the Home: Learning Environments for Korean and U.S. Students

ABSTRACT

The family and home environment are considered the most significant influences on children's development and learning. These factors directly influence student ability, motivation, and interest in learning. This study focuses on alterable factors in the home environment (i.e., homework time, attitudes, expectations, reading). A multiple-factor model provides a framework to discuss the family influences that appear to explain achievement differences. To gain perspective from international comparative studies, statistical findings highlight family practices in Korea and the United States. The implications from this article discuss altering the curriculum of the home, providing supportive family conditions, early intervention, and family–school collaborations. Altering constructive factors in the home environment in any culture may strongly influence children's learning and development.