Defining Your “Life Territory”: The Meaning of Place and Home for Community Dwellers and Nursing Home Residents—A Qualitative Study in Four European Countries

Fiona Ecarnot, Stéphane Sanchez, Gilles Berrut, Véronique Suissa, Serge Guérin and Aude Letty
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Fiona Ecarnot: Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Besançon, 25000 Besançon, France
Stéphane Sanchez: Hôpitaux Champagne Sud—Centre Hospitalier de Troyes, 10000 Troyes, France
Gilles Berrut: CHU Nantes, Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire de Gérontologie Clinique, and Gérontopôle Autonomie Longévité Pays de la Loire, 44200 Nantes, France
Véronique Suissa: Laboratoire de Psychopathologie et Neuropsychologie, Université Paris VIII, 93526 Saint-Denis, France
Serge Guérin: Fondation Korian Pour le Bien Vieillir, 75008 Paris, France
Aude Letty: Fondation Korian Pour le Bien Vieillir, 75008 Paris, France

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: The meaning of place and home for community dwellers and nursing home residents remains unclear. We explored the relationship between older people and their “life territory”, to propose a working definition of this concept, which could be used to orient policy decisions. Individual, semi-structured interviews were performed with older people, nursing home staff, and representatives of local institutions/elected officials in four European countries (France, Belgium, Germany, Italy). Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. In total, 54 interviews were performed. Five main themes emerged: (i) working definition of “your life territory” (a multidimensional concept covering individual and collective aspects); (ii) importance of the built environment (e.g., public transport, sidewalks, benches, access ramps); (iii) interactions between nursing homes and the outside community (specifically the need to maintain interactions with the local community); (iv) a sense of integration (dependent on social contacts, seniority in the area, perceived self-utility); and (v) the use of new technologies (to promote integration, social contacts and access to culture). This study found that the “life territory” of older people is a multidimensional concept, centred around five main domains, which together contribute to integrating older people into the fibre of their community.

Keywords: housing; built environment; environmental gerontology; elderly people; community; nursing homes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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