title: Care homes: The developing ideology of a homelike place to live.
abstract: This paper reports on part of a doctoral study which explored stakeholder perceptions of the importance of a homelike environment in a care home and which factors contributed to this. The changes in institutional care for older people have evolved from being a 'warehouse' type of environment for those too poor, too mad, too sick and too unloved, to a place where older people in need of care can spend their days in safety, in a 'homely' environment. Such an environment is one of the quality indicators of care home provision. Yet defining what 'homeliness' means is fraught with difficulties. This article presents a narrative literature review on the concept of 'home' and the common measures taken to address homeliness in a care home setting. The results show that although the word 'homely' is used with the presumption of a shared understanding, the concept is elusive and highly subjective. Given that long-term care now provides homes for an increasingly wide range of age groups and individuals with increasingly diverse backgrounds and personal histories, is a shared viewpoint on homeliness possible? Indeed, is it ever possible to make an institution homely?
authors.affiliation: Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, United Kingdom. Electronic address: afm.fleming@btinternet.com.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University, Sighthill Campus, Edinburgh EH11 4BN, United Kingdom. Electronic address: A.Kydd@napier.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kydd
authors.affiliation: Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art, 167 Renfrew St, Glasgow G3 6RQ, United Kingdom. Electronic address: s.stewart@gsa.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004779:Environment Design; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D009735:Nursing Homes; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care
keywords: Care homes; Elderly; Homeliness