title: Home as a health promotion setting for older adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The number and the proportion of older persons is growing in the Nordic Countries. The growth in the older population has a clear impact on the care system for older persons. One trend is to prioritise home care instead of care in institutions. Another trend is to emphasise preventive and health promotion care. As official guidelines in the Nordic countries state that home is the best place to grow old, it is essential that older persons keep their health and functional capacity in order to be able to live at home for as long as possible. As current policy emphasises living at home, home care, preventive work and health promotion it becomes essential to study the home as a health promotion setting.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to reach a new understanding of home as a health promotion setting for older persons.
  
  
  METHODS
  The method used was a literature reflection and analysis with a hermeneutical approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results show that with increasing age the home environment becomes a crucial determinant for independence. The home environment supports the self as people age; it has associations with the past, can provide proximity to family, and a sense of being a part of neighbourhood life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only by taking into consideration the meaning of home and the resources of the individual older person can home function as a true health promoting setting if health personnel focus solely on risk prevention, they can neglect the perspectives of the older person, resulting in dis-empowerment not health promotion.
authors.affiliation: The Nordic School of Public health, Gothenburg, Sweden mm.ahlefeldt@gmail.com marianne_mahler@ofir.dk.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahler
authors.affiliation: The Nordic School of Public health, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anneli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarvimäki
authors.affiliation: The Nordic School of Public health, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Clancy
authors.affiliation: The Nordic School of Public health, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stenbock-Hult
authors.affiliation: The Nordic School of Public health, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Simonsen
authors.affiliation: The Nordic School of Public health, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liveng
authors.affiliation: The Nordic School of Public health, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zidén
authors.affiliation: The Nordic School of Public health, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Aud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johannessen
authors.affiliation: The Nordic School of Public health, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hörder
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries
keywords: Home; health promotion setting; older adults; prevention care; promotion care