The concept of a “home” isn’t merely physical; it’s just as much social, symbolic and personal.

For senior living communities, establishing a “sense of place”, or “home”, for residents is paramount. But it’s also difficult.

How does a facility make itself feel like home?

A recent study, published in the journal of Social Science & Medicine, examined the impact of participatory community mapping workshops (PCMW) at affordable senior housing facilities.

A bit of background on the concept of PCMWs, from the authors:

Participatory mapping is a research process that provides the opportunity to create a tangible display of people, places and experiences that make up a community.

[…]

PCMWs were adapted for the current project to further understand sense-of-place among older adults. PCMWs enabled researchers to access layers of information through the application of multiple methods, enhancing holistic understandings of aging-in-place.

Details on the PCMWs used for the study:

Four PCMWs were conducted in English (with Mandarin and Cantonese-interpretations) at a seniors’ community centre. The goals of the PCMWs were to generate visual representations of how seniors value, understand and interact with place and identify the significant features (e.g. services, amenities, open spaces) within the community to make it a positive place to age.

[…]

Two key methods were applied in the PCMWs: 1) experiential group walks (N . 2) conducted once around the community (in small groups of eight to ten consisting of seniors, service providers and researchers) and once within and around the periphery of the building (in one large group ten consisting of seniors, service providers and researchers); and 2) mapping exercises (N . 2) were conducted after the experiential group walks where participants located services and supports on a large map.

[…]

Researchers were reminded not to dominate walking discussions and to allow the walk-along process to be led by seniors. Walking alongside seniors, researchers prompted, questioned and took photographs of places in the community that provided activities and services of value to the seniors. Functional place-based needs (e.g. traffic lights, gateways to green space), service gaps and existing strengths were identified.

And what were the results?

The seniors identified a number of classes, services and other items that would help establish a “sense of place”. See below:

Source: “Place-making with older persons”, Social Science & Medicine

What’s more, the seniors told revealed interesting insights that otherwise would never have been tapped. From the study:

Geographic proximity to places that provided opportunities for community engagement such as libraries, cultural centres and community centres was reported to help reduce social isolation. For instance, one person revealed that “the main reason I chose to live here is because it is to close places that I always go.”

Equally important is the accessibility and availability of age-friendly programs, activities and social gatherings. It was expressed that many older people living in the new development had lived alone and “don’t have family here.” One individual suggested that to promote social participation, the management could arrange for a “band from time to time” and “once in a while, have a little barbecue.” The desire for more social activities was echoed by several older persons. Some felt that if “older people can get together, it might make them feel less lonely and increase their sense-of-place attachment.” For example, “they could set up a weekly event to bring people together to either sing, dance or just chat.” According to older persons, to prevent social isolation and facilitate participation and engagement, it is important that social activities are: held in convenient locations, are frequent, available at different times and accessible for persons of various cultural backgrounds.

Here’s an example of a discussion that led seniors to identify a problem – lack of activities for immobile residents – and then generate a solution. From the study:

Though senior-specific programs and activities were available through the local seniors’ centre, some older adults were less mobile than others, making these difficult to access. Hence, it was suggested that some older people would benefit from various ‘in-house’ activities. The main challenge was acquiring human capacity to organize and implement programs that “involve our hands and minds.” Coordination and implementation of age-friendly activities required time, space, and place organization. One solution generated by participants was to raise funds to hire a program coordinator to organize activities and establish a tenant board. Other key services and amenities identified are presented in Fig. 2. It was voiced that the availability of services and amenities would enable seniors to stay independent and age better in their current living environments.

The full study, well worth reading, can be accessed here.