A place for integrated care in nursing home settings - everyday life and care practices

The facts

Collaborative partners:

Municipality of Jönköping

Project duration: 2023-11-01 - 2028-10-31

Research team:

Lena Rosenberg, principal investigator

Sophie Gaber, researcher

Ulrika Börjesson, researcher

Therese Jonsson, PhD candiate

Financir: Swedish Research Council (VR) through the Post Graduate School for Integrated Care, Örebro University

How can nursing homes be designed to support both care and a meaningful everyday life?
This research project explores how nursing homes as places can support integrated care while also enabling participation and a meaningful everyday life for residents. Through ethnographic studies and mapping of residents' activities and places, the project aims to develop a deeper understanding of care practices and daily life in nursing homes.

Motivation for the study

Nursing homes are complex environments with multiple purposes, as they serve both as homes and as places for care and support. There is currently a lack of knowledge on how such facilities for older adults can contribute to both a meaningful everyday life and integrated care. These aspects can sometimes be seen as conflicting, as a strong emphasis on care routines may come at the expense of residents' influence and opportunities to engage/participate in activities.

This doctoral project adopts a perspective where the environment is viewed as intertwined with the actors and social practices of the place. It addresses questions related to what integrated care (God och Nära Vård) entails within nursing homes, and how indoor and outdoor environments can support this approach in such settings. The aim of the project is to understand what characterises integrated care in nursing homes and how nursing homes can be designed to meet the requirements of integrated care while also being a place that enables a good everyday life for the residents.

Material and method

The project has an overall ethnographic design. Data is generated through field work with participant observations in three nursing homes. In addition, an instrument mapping residents' participation in activities and places inside and outside nursing homes will be developed, and used to highlight specific activities and places inside and outside nursing homes that residents need and wish to participate in. Taken together, the findings can contribute to an increased understanding about the interplay between care, places and participation in everyday life in nursing home settings.