Why do elderly people choose to live in a community home? A study among french population

AuthorLiliane Rioux
PositionUniversité Paris Ouest Nanterre-La Défense, France.
Pages115-120

Page 115

1. Introduction

The demographic aging is an unavoidable phenomenon which most of the occidental societies have to face. The growth of life expectancy associated with a decreased fecundity rate, alongside the arrival of the 'baby-boomers' at the age of retirement, are, indeed, unanimously acknowledged causes of the growth of the aged population in our industrialised societies, particularly in France.

Likewise, the percentage has grown from 8.5% people aged 65 and more in 1990, to 16.1% in 2001 and a growth of up to 21.1% is anticipated for 2020. The previsions for the 21st century confirm the belief according to which it is expected that the proportion of people aged 65 should be larger than that of those aged 20 or less, representing 25.5% of the total population.

Our occidental societies have to concentrate on the life conditions which they want to offer to this growing population, at the same time questioning themselves on the reception structures which are liable to facilitate its well-being, as well as a better quality of life. Facing this new social challenge is a stake which motivates health professionals and researchers alike. This is why, in the last two decades, researches on the well-being of the aged, specifically on the factors that influence it, have multiplied. In this research, we concentrate particularly on the elements determining the well-being of aged persons living in community homes.Page 116

2. Factors Determining the Well-Being of Aged People Living in Community Homes

Moving in a residence for aged people (home for old people, community home) entails parting with a dwelling which is familiar and 'feels at home'. This major and often brutal transition is frequently perceived as a stressful event by the one who experiences it, particularly because this community home constitutes the last dwelling place for that certain person. This event could cause physical, psychological and/or social problems [5], [18], [14].

Thus, Caouette [1] mentions a feeling of losing control over the environment, a break-up with the old life medium and a modification of the subjects' personal identity, coming as a result of their integration inside a group. The stress level varies according to the personal characteristics of the individual (health status, sex, age...), the more or less voluntary arrival in the community home, and, the quality of the expected services, especially those concerning security, neatness, calm and proximity [11],[6], [10].

Recent researches [15], [9], [20], [2] consider that the well-being of the aged person who has to make the transition between a private home and a collective life is, essentially, the result of the interaction between the person's psychological resources and the organizational and contextual characteristics of his old and/or new place of living. The research also stresses the importance of a social support which should be adapted to the capacities, needs and expectancies of the residents.

Nonetheless, entering a residence for aged people also involves integration in an institutional space, which entails living inside a community and respecting all its functioning rules and schedules. Considering that the establishment functions as a total institutional space, in the sense that Goffman [4] attributes, all the activities of the residents are administered by the institution and every individual is, in a way, totally taken over, emerged in an universe where he is equally treated to all those who live with him. This type of total institutional space is incompatible with a private space, a place which feels 'at home'. The interaction with the environment becomes thus highly transformed and the community home can...

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