Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T04:02:21.122Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Assisted living facilities as sites of encounter: implications for older adults’ experiences of inclusion and exclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2019

Rachel V. Herron ,
L. M. Funk ,
D. Spencer  and
M. Wrathall
Rachel V. Herron*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Brandon University, Brandon, Canada
L. M. Funk
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada
D. Spencer
Affiliation:
Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
M. Wrathall
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Most of the existing literature on inclusion and exclusion among older adults focuses on community-dwelling individuals. In this article, we draw on the results of a comparative case study to explore how older adults in two assisted living settings experience inclusion and exclusion. One site was a low-income facility and the other a higher-end facility in a mid-sized Canadian city. Bridging together geographies of encounter and gerontological approaches on social inclusion, we analyse interviews with tenants and key informants to explore when, where and in what ways these groups experience inclusion and exclusion in these particular settings. Tenants’ narratives reveal how their encounters, and in turn their experiences of exclusion and inclusion are shaped by experiences throughout their lifecourse, the organisation of assisted living spaces, communities beyond the facility, and pervasive discourses of ageism and ‘dementiaism’. We argue that addressing experiences of exclusion for older adults within these settings involves making more time and space for positive encounters and addressing pervasive discourses around ageism and ‘dementiaism’ among tenants and staff.

Keywords

agingassisted livingsocial inclusionencounter
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 40 , Issue 7 , July 2020 , pp. 1577 - 1593
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amin, A (2002) Ethnicity and the multicultural city: living with diversity. Environment and Planning A 34, 959–980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baxter, J (2016) Case studies in qualitative research. In Hay, I (ed.), Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography, 4th Edn. Toronto: Oxford University Press, pp. 130–146.Google Scholar
Beckmann, J (2004) Mobility and safety. Theory, Culture & Society 21, 81–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruce, E (2004) Social inclusion (and exclusion) in care homes. In Innes, A, Archibald, C and Murphy, C (eds), Dementia and Social Inclusion: Marginalised Groups and Marginalised Areas of Dementia Research, Care and Practice. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, pp. 123–136.Google Scholar
Buffel, T, Phillipson, C and Scharf, T (2013) Experiences of neighbourhood exclusion and inclusion among older people living in deprived inner-city areas in Belgium and England. Ageing & Society 33, 89–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buffel, T, Verté, D, De Donder, L, De Witte, N, Dury, S, Vanwing, T and Bolsenbroek, A (2012) Theorising the relationship between older people and their immediate social living environment. International Journal of Lifelong Education 31, 13–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casey, ANS, Low, LF, Jeon, YH and Brodaty, H (2016) Positive and negative relationship networks in a nursing home. Journal of Gerontological Nursing 42, 9–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cass, N, Shove, E and Urry, J (2005) Social exclusion, mobility and access 1. The Sociological Review 53, 539–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charmaz, K (2014) Constructing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Conradson, D (2003) Spaces of care in the city: the place of a community drop-in centre. Social & Cultural Geography 4, 507–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Certeau, M (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, p 96.Google Scholar
Dobbs, D, Eckert, JK, Rubinstein, B, Keimig, L, Clark, L, Frankowski, AC and Zimmerman, S (2008) An ethnographic study of stigma and ageism in residential care or assisted living. The Gerontologist 48, 517–526.10.1093/geront/48.4.517CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Du, P (2013) Intergenerational solidarity and old-age support for the social inclusion of elders in mainland China: the changing roles of family and government. Ageing & Society 33, 44–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dupuis, SL, Wiersma, E and Loiselle, L (2012) Pathologizing behavior: meanings of behaviors in Dementia Care. Journal of Aging Studies 26, 162–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dwyer, P and Hardill, I (2011) Promoting social inclusion? The impact of villages services on the lives of older people living in rural England. Ageing & Society 31, 243–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engels, B and Liu, G (2011) Social exclusion, location and transport disadvantage amongst non-driving seniors in a Melbourne municipality, Australia. Journal of Transport Geography 19, 984–996.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Funk, LM (2015) Sociological Perspectives on Aging (Themes in Canadian Sociology Series). Don Mills, Canada: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Funk, LM, Herron, R, Spencer, D, Dansereau, L and Wrathall, M (2019) More than ‘petty squabbles’ – developing a contextual understanding of conflict and aggression among older women in low-income assisted living. Journal of Aging Studies 48, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goffman, E (1961) Encounters: Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Goodridge, D, Heal-Salahub, J, Paus-Jenssen, E, James, G and Lidington, J (2017) Peer bullying in seniors’ subsidized apartment communities in Saskatoon, Canada: participatory research. Health & Social Care in the Community 24, 1439–1447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grenier, AM and Guberman, N (2009) Creating and sustaining disadvantage: the relevance of a social exclusion framework. Health and Social Care in the Community 17, 116–124.Google ScholarPubMed
Grenier, A, Phillipson, C, Laliberte Rudman, D, Hatzifilalithis, S, Kobayashi, K and Marier, P (2017) Precarity in late life: understanding new forms of risk and insecurity. Journal of Aging Studies 43, 9–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hagan Hennessy, C, Means, RT and Burholt, V (2014) Countryside Connections: Older People, Community and Place in Rural Britain. Bristol, UK: The Policy Press.10.1332/policypress/9781447310303.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hale, B, Gauld, R and Barrett, P (2012) Social inclusion through ageing-in-place with care? Ageing & Society 32, 361–378.Google Scholar
Hall, E and Wilton, R (2015) Alternative spaces of ‘work’ and inclusion for disabled people. In Grover, C and Piggott, L (eds), Disabled People, Work and Welfare. Bristol, UK: Policy Press, pp. 315–333.Google Scholar
Herron, RV and Wrathall, MA (2018) Putting responsive behaviours in place: examining how formal and informal carers understand the actions of people with dementia. Social Science & Medicine 204, 9–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kemp, CL, Ball, MM, Hollingsworth, C and Perkins, MM (2012) Strangers and friends: residents’ social careers in assisted living. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 67B, 491–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lefebvre, H (1991) The Production of Space. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Levitas, R, Pantazis, C, Fahmy, E, Gordon, D, Lloyd, E and Patsios, D (2007) The Multidimensional Analysis of Social Exclusion. London: Department for Communities and Local Government and Social Exclusion Task Force.Google Scholar
Maffesoli, M (1996) The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
McDonald, L, Hitzig, SL, Pillemer, KA, Lachs, MS, Beaulieu, M, Brownell, P, Burnes, D, Caspi, E, Du Mont, J, Gadsby, R, Goergen, T, Gutman, G, Hirst, SP, Holmes, C, Khattak, S, Lowenstein, A, Mirza, RM, Mcneill, S, Moorhouse, A, Podnieks, E, Rideout, R, Robitaille, A, Rochon, PA, Rosenberg, J, Sheppard, C, Tamblyn Watts, L and Thomas, C (2015) Developing a research agenda on resident-to-resident aggression: recommendations from a consensus conference. Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect 27, 146–167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McParland, P, Kelly, F and Innes, A (2017) Dichotomising dementia: is there another way? Sociology of Health and Illness 39, 258–269.10.1111/1467-9566.12438CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preston, J and Rajé, F (2007) Accessibility, mobility and transport-related social exclusion. Journal of Transport Geography 15, 151–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ranasinghe, P (2017) Helter-shelter: Security, Legality, and an Ethic of Care in an Emergency Shelter. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division.Google Scholar
Scharf, T, Phillipson, C, Kingston, P and Smith, AE (2001) Social exclusion and older people: exploring the connections. Education and Ageing 16, 303–320.Google Scholar
Scharlach, A and Lehning, A (2013) Ageing-friendly communities and social inclusion in the United States of America. Ageing & Society 33, 110–136.10.1017/S0144686X12000578CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuermans, N (2013) Ambivalent geographies of encounter inside and around the fortified homes of middle class Whites in Cape Town. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment 28, 679–688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thrift, N (2008) Non-representational Theory: Space, Politics, Affect. New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trompetter, H, Scholte, R and Westerhof, G (2011) Resident-to-resident relational aggression and subjective well-being in assisted living facilities. Aging & Mental Health 15, 59–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Urry, J (2004) The ‘system’ of automobility. Theory, Culture & Society 21, 4/5, 25–39.10.1177/0263276404046059CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valentine, G (2008) Living with difference: reflections on geographies of encounter. Progress in Human Geography 32, 323–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Regenmortel, S, De Donder, L, Dury, S, Smetcoren, AS, De Witte, N and Verte, D (2016) Social inclusion in later life: a systematic review of the literature. Population Ageing 9, 315–344.10.1007/s12062-016-9145-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walby, K and Spencer, DC (2018) Tree planting as neo-tribalism: ritual, risk boundaries, and group effervescence. Emotion, Space and Society 28, 60–66.10.1016/j.emospa.2018.06.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, K, O'Shea, E and Scharf, T (2012) Social Exclusion and Ageing in Diverse Rural Communities. Galway, Ireland: Irish Centre for Social Gerontology.Google Scholar
Walsh, K, O'Shea, E, Scharf, T and Shucksmith, M (2014) Exploring the impact of informal practices on social exclusion and age: friendliness for older people in rural communities. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 24, 37–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warburton, J, Ng, SH and Shardlow, SM (2013) Social inclusion in an ageing world: introduction to the special issue. Ageing & Society 33, 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warburton, J, Scharf, T and Walsh, K (2017) Flying under the radar? Risks of social exclusion for older people in rural communities in Australia, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Sociologia Ruralis 57, 459–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiles, J (2005) Conceptualizing place in the care of older people: the contributions of geographical gerontology. Journal of Clinical Nursing 14, 100–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilton, R and Evans, J (2016) Social enterprises as spaces of encounter for mental health consumers. Area 48, 236–243.10.1111/area.12259CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilton, R, Fudge Schormans, A and Marquis, N (2018) Shopping, social inclusion and the urban geographies of people with intellectual disability. Social & Cultural Geography 19, 230–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar