The Experience of Being at Home Throughout the Life Span. Investigation of Persons Aged from 2 to 102

Abstract

One hundred and fifty persons aged two to 102 narrated their experiences related to the phenomenon "being at home." Several common interdependent and interrelated aspects of the experience of being at home were identified throughout the life span. These aspects are believed to entail cognitive, emotional, and conative dimensions of the experience: safety, rootedness, harmony, joy, privacy, togetherness, recognition, order, control, possession, nourishment, initiative, power, freedom. The sense of being related was found to be a common condition of the experience of being at home, i.e., related to significant others, significant things, significant places, significant activities, oneself, and transcendence. In the process of maintaining the experience of being at home throughout life the phenomena "being given a home," "creating a home," "sharing a home," and "offering a home" were integral parts. A progression in the experience of being at home throughout the life span was identified.

Meanings and experiential outcomes of bodily care in a specialist palliative context

“…These conditional dimensions correspond very well with what has previously been recognized as influential on the feeling of at-homeness (Rasmussen, 2000;Zingmark et al, 1995), which can be seen as one integral aspect of well-being at the end of life.…”

Place in occupational science: A life course perspective on the role of environmental context in the quest for meaning

“…There is a voluminous literature on the elements that define the essence of home (Despres, 1991;Marcus, 1995;Moore, 2000;Rowles & Chaudhury, 2005;Rubinstein, 1989;Sixsmith, 1986;Zingmark, Norberg & Sandman, 1995). Such elements embrace themes of centering, permanence, ownership, responsibility, control, self expression, privacy, refuge, belonging, comfort (familiarity), and emotional affiliation.…”

Being a Palliative Nurse for Persons with Severe Congestive Heart Failure in Advanced Homecare

“…striving to make the patient's goal one's own ''then I had to back off as it were, and just listen to him so that's what's best for him, but that's just how it is'' (2). Palliative nurses also strive to integrate the patient's goal and that of the next of kin.…”

“…Having togetherness means being able to talk about difficult issues, such as death, just when one needs to, for example during coffee breaks with colleagues who understand and meet the same type of difficulties. As one nurse says, ''the whole autumn there was heavy and tough for me and I felt tired and worn-out and I talked with the workgroup, and it had happened to all of us, as it were'' (2). The nurses also say that it is important to promote feelings of affinity in the workgroup by having fun together both in and out of work.…”