title: A place for the heart: A journey in the post-asylum landscape. Metaphors and materiality.
abstract: The downsizing of psychiatric hospitals has created a new institutional landscape in the local community to support people with severe mental problems in their daily living. This study explores meeting places in Norway from the users' perspectives. The users used four metaphors to describe these meeting places: "like a home", "like a family", "like a landing ground" and "like a trampoline". The users have decorated the interiors of the meeting places with hearts made from various materials, and these could be considered as symbols of the places. The metaphors used: the hearts and the rooms and interiors, reflect old ideas about calmness and dignity rather than new ideas based on New Public Management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Health, University of Agder, Post box 509, 4898 Grimstad, Norway. Electronic address: inger.b.larsen@uia.no.
authors.forename: Inger Beate
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Health, University of Agder, Norway.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Topor
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D003688:Deinstitutionalization / Q000379:methods*; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D019365:Metaphor; D009664:Norway; D012949:Social Work, Psychiatric
keywords: Deinstitutionalisation; Institutional landscape; Meeting places; Severe mental problems