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The onset of ill-health and frailty in later life, within the context of the policy of ageing-in-place, is increasingly being responded to through the provision of home care. In the philosophy of ageing-in-place, the home provides for continuity of living environment, maintenance of independence in the community and social inclusion. The provision of assistance to remain at home assumes continuity in the living environment and independence in the organisation of daily life and social contact. This paper explores the changes that occur as a result of becoming a care recipient within the home and concludes that the transition into receiving care is characterised by discontinuity and upheaval which tends to reinforce social exclusion. We draw on the rites of passage framework, which highlights social processes of separation, liminality and reconnection, in analysing this transition to enhance understanding of the experience and gain insights to improve the policy and practice of home care. Separation from independent living leads to a state of liminality. The final stage in the rites of passage framework draws attention to reconnections, but reconnection is not inevitable. Reconnection is, however, an appropriate goal for the care sector when supporting frail or disabled older people through the transition into becoming a home-care recipient.KEY WORDSageing-in-place, formal care, liminality, social inclusion, reconnective care work.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the indicators of quality in care for people working and living in aged residential care (ARC) settings. Design/methodology/approach This research was conducted using an ethnographic design in two distinct ARC facilities in a New Zealand city, a large facility with residential, dementia and hospital level care, and a small family owned facility providing residential care only. In total, 50 hours of observational data were collected, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 people, including managers, careworkers, nurses, family members and residents. These data were thematically analysed using the constant comparative method. Findings The main indicators of quality for staff, family and residents included: a home-like, friendly and safe environment; good medical and personal care; respect for the residents; and good staff. Participants also acknowledged the need for adjustments by residents to living in aged care; and the challenges of caring for increasingly frail residents. Originality/value Findings support the growing recognition of a need for resident-centred approaches to ARC that are reflected in government policy and regulatory apparatus. Managers in ARC facilities must balance adherence with health and safety standards, and providing an environment where their residents can enjoy a meaningful life that has purpose and value.

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experience challenges to their feelings about their homes, their bodies, their relationships with family and friends, and their relationships with formal providers of health and care. To examine the changes which, to repeat, 'challenge' older people and their families, we use a secularised version of the classical rites of passage model. Ours is the first book to apply this concept fully, despite its being considered of use by many social gerontologists. The concept's value lies, in the first place, in its holistic focus on transition and its grouping of spatial, temporal and relational changes which accompany the passage from independence to increasing dependence. Subsequently, the value lies in emphasizing a third stage, of 'reconnection', leading us to consider the situation of frail older people in terms of the wider society.This concept of rites of passage has a further value in that it helps us identify a specific population who share a culture of ageing with disabilities at home and with care. We suggest these experiences lead to a distinct late-life stage, different from independence and from greater dependence. We describe this stage as one of 'supported independence' where remaining at home is intended to provide continuity and stability, but where living and coping with disabilities and receiving care presents a major disruption of this apparent stability.Our conclusions recognise the critical necessity for considering how best to support, enable, or empower older people to maintain agency and autonomy. This, then, is the third stage suggested by the rites of passage model, of reconnection to the wider society, or perhaps, in our terms, maintaining interests and valued roles, and assuming a status of a valued identity in our society. We emphasise the role of inhome care work here, and offer other ideas to assist in fulfilling the wish of New Zealand and other governments to age-in-place successfully.This perspective has emerged through the work and research of the authors in the field of ageing and health, and care at home. Beatrice Hale worked in the field of community development, with older people as a social worker, and as a volunteer coordinator, before completing her doctorate on ageing and home care. Patrick Barrett writes in his capacity as lecturer and researcher in health and policy issues, and has recently spent time at