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COBIADO: A Sense of Home in Elderly Care

Logo project Cobiado

Government policy stimulates elderly people to live independently for as long as possible. Consequently, the group of elderly people living in residential care centers is becoming older, more fragile and more in need of help. For residents, the residential care center has become their home. Making people feel at home implies offering more than only medical care. The central research question of this project is what makes fragile elderly feel at home in a residential care center?

In a first phase, a literature review documented the concept of "a sense of home". Secondly, key care figures participated in focus groups to grasp their meaning of "a sense of home". Finally, interviews with residents shed light on what helps and hinders them to feel at home. The project resulted in practical guidelines for residential care centers to install a sense of home in elderly care.