Residential normalcy and environmental experiences of very old people: changes in residential reasoning over time.

The decision to relocate in old age is intricately linked to thoughts and desires to stay put. However, most research focuses either on strategies that allow people to age in place or on their reasons for relocation. There is a need for more knowledge on very old peoples' residential reasoning, including thoughts about aging in place and thoughts about relocation as one intertwined process evolving in everyday life. The aim of this study was to explore what we refer to as the process of residential reasoning and how it changes over time among very old people, and to contribute to the theoretical development regarding aging in place and relocation. Taking a longitudinal perspective, data stem from the ENABLE-AGE In-depth Study, with interviews conducted in 2003 followed up in interviews in 2011. The 16 participants of the present study were 80-89years at the time of the first interview. During analysis the Theoretical Model of Residential Normalcy by Golant and the Life Course Model of Environmental Experience by Rowles & Watkins were used as sensitizing concepts. The findings revealed changes in the process of residential reasoning that related to a wide variety of issues. Such issues included the way very old people use their environmental experience, their striving to build upon or dismiss attachment to place, and their attempts to maintain or regain residential normalcy during years of declining health and loss of independence. In addition, the changes in reasoning were related to end-of-life issues. The findings contribute to the theoretical discussion on aging in place, relocation as a coping strategy, and reattachment after moving in very old age.

[1]  Hans-Werner Wahl,et al.  Environmental gerontology at the beginning of the new millennium: reflections on its historical, empirical, and theoretical development. , 2003, The Gerontologist.

[2]  Glenn A. Bowen.  Grounded Theory and Sensitizing Concepts , 2006 .

[3]  Julie Robison,et al.  Should I Stay or Should I Go? , 2006 .

[4]  Johnny Saldaña,et al.  Longitudinal Qualitative Research: Analyzing Change Through Time , 2003 .

[5]  A. Strauss.  Basics Of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[6]  S. Iwarsson,et al.  Negotiating and effectuating relocation to sheltered housing in old age: a Swedish study over 11 years , 2009, European journal of ageing.

[7]  K. Moore,et al.  Age and the cultivation of place , 2011 .

[8]  M. Powell Lawton,et al.  Ecology and the aging process. , 1973 .

[9]  I. Himmelsbach,et al.  Cross-National and Multi-Language Qualitative Research: Challenges and Recommendations , 2013 .

[10]  Wim Vanduffel,et al.  Should I Stay or Should I Go? , 2016, Neuron.

[11]  Heather M. Young,et al.  Moving to congregate housing: The last chosen home , 1998 .

[12]  S. Golant.  Out of Their Residential Comfort and Mastery Zones: Toward a More Relevant Environmental Gerontology , 2012 .

[13]  R. Scheidt,et al.  Environmental Gerontology: Progress in the Post-Lawton Era , 2006 .

[14]  D. Ekerdt,et al.  Measurement of late-life residential relocation: why are rates for such a manifest event so varied? , 2008, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[15]  Hans-Werner Wahl,et al.  TROUBLE IN PARADISE? REASONS TO RELOCATE AND OBJECTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES AMONG WELL-OFF OLDER ADULTS , 2002 .

[16]  A. Ballantyne,et al.  From retirement village to residential aged care: what older people and their families say. , 2006, Health & social care in the community.

[17]  H. Wahl,et al.  Aging in Context Across the Adult Life Course: Integrating Physical and Social Environmental Research Perspectives , 2003, Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics.

[18]  S. Golant.  The quest for residential normalcy by older adults: Relocation but one pathway , 2011 .

[19]  Hans-Werner Wahl,et al.  Is aging in place a resource for or risk to life satisfaction? , 2011, The Gerontologist.

[20]  Malcolm P Cutchin,et al.  Becoming "at home" in assisted living residences: exploring place integration processes. , 2003, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[21]  Kathleen A Knafl,et al.  Older Women’s Response to Residential Relocation: Description of Transition Styles , 2003, Qualitative health research.

[22]  M. Cutchin.  Deweyan Integration: Moving beyond Place Attachment in Elderly Migration Theory , 2001, International journal of aging & human development.

[23]  D. Ekerdt,et al.  Motives for Residential Mobility in Later Life: Post-Move Perspectives of Elders and Family Members , 2008, International journal of aging & human development.

[24]  Susanne Iwarsson,et al.  Importance of the home environment for healthy aging: conceptual and methodological background of the European ENABLE-AGE Project. , 2007, The Gerontologist.

[25]  Susanne Iwarsson,et al.  Voices on relocation and aging in place in very old age--a complex and ambivalent matter. , 2013, The Gerontologist.

[26]  C. Kohm.  A place to call home. , 1993, The Canadian nurse.

[27]  Robert Thornberg.  Informed Grounded Theory , 2012 .

[28]  J. Wiles,et al.  The meaning of "aging in place" to older people. , 2012, The Gerontologist.

[29]  S. Iwarsson,et al.  Home as the Locus and Origin for Participation: Experiences among Very Old Swedish People , 2007 .

[30]  M. Elliott,et al.  Health and social care in the community. , 1989, Elderly care.

[31]  T. Abma,et al.  qualitative research: is meaning lost in translation? , 2022 .

[32]  Elizabeth A. Mannix,et al.  Should I Stay or Should I Go? , 2003 .

[33]  G D Rowles,et al.  HISTORY, HABIT, HEART, AND HEARTH: ON MAKING SPACES INTO PLACES. IN: AGING INDEPENDENTLY. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS AND MOBILITY , 2003 .

[34]  Leonie Kellaher,et al.  ‘Option recognition’ in later life: variations in ageing in place , 2011, Ageing and Society.

[35]  Jon Pynoos,et al.  Aging in Place: Evolution of a Research Topic Whose Time Has Come , 2011, Journal of aging research.

[36]  C. Ryff,et al.  The role of self-enhancing evaluations in a successful life transition. , 2003, Psychology and aging.

[37]  Susanne Iwarsson,et al.  Aging well and the environment: toward an integrative model and research agenda for the future. , 2012, The Gerontologist.

[38]  A. Bryant.  Grounded Theory and Pragmatism: The Curious Case of Anselm Strauss , 2009 .

[39]  Denise C. Park,et al.  Handbook of the Psychology of Aging , 1979 .

[40]  L. Carstensen.  The Influence of a Sense of Time on Human Development , 2006, Science.

[41]  Hans-Werner Wahl,et al.  Focus on aging in context : socio-physical environments , 2004 .