This phenomenological study of the meaning of home from the perspectives of people with and without an intellectual disability sought to identify, (a) any common ‘essence’ of meaning held by and, (b) the nature of any differences of perception between, the groups. Purposive samples of 18 people with an intellectual disability and 21 non-disabled people were surveyed using a semi-structured interview to ascertain their experiences of home and 'non-homes'. Inductive analysis of the data revealed a shared understanding of the meaning of home at a fundamental level. This shared meaning of home was found to comprise: the ability to exert control over an area; having a personalised space; feeling content with the living situation; a sense of familiarity with the setting; a set of behaviours and routines usually only enacted when at home; common names and uses for rooms; socialising at home with others; the importance of a positive social atmosphere in the home; and, recognition of places as non-homes because they lacked one or more of these attributes. Further analysis revealed the essence of home is its experience as the place where stress is most reduced or minimised for the individual. The study demonstrates that the concept of stress is superordinate to previously identified concepts considered fundamental to home such as privacy, control and non-homes. Major differences between the two samples were largely differences of degree with people who have an intellectual disability reporting the same fundamental attributes of home as people who do not have an intellectual disability, but in a less elaborated form. Principal among these differences of degree was the notion of control over the home and its derivative elements which encompassed the whole dwelling including its setting for people without an intellectual disability but was very restricted for people with an intellectual disability being largely confined to the person's bedroom. Socialising in or from the home was also very limited for people with an intellectual disability in comparison with that experienced by non-disabled informants with the former group conveying an impression of leading significantly socially isolated lives at home. The major implications of this study are related to the meaning of home per se, to residential service provision to people with an intellectual disability, and to future research.

Background: Housing continues to be one of the most significant unmet needs for many people living with HIV/AIDS in British Columbia. While there has been a focus on documenting the material aspects of housing and housing extremes (i.e., homelessness), there are important gaps in our understanding of the complex relationship between housing and health for people living with HIV/AIDS. The aim of this research was to identify what “home” meant for people living with HIV/AIDS across a continuum of housing/living situations, the ways in which people living with HIV/AIDS construct meanings of home, and how these factors interact with their (physical, mental, and emotional) health and wellbeing. Methods: This thesis reports on a secondary analysis of individual interviews from the Positive Living, Positive Homes (PLPH) community-based research study. For the PLPH study, community-based research approaches were used to explore a variety of lived experiences across a continuum of housing situations, while promoting collaborative inquiry among community and academic research team members. For this analysis, a purposively selected sample of 10 transcripts was drawn from 53 semi-structured qualitative interviews with people living with HIV/AIDS in Greater Vancouver (GV). Transcripts were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach, adopting constant comparative and other coding techniques from a grounded theory approach to explore how people constructed the meaning of home, and how people living with HIV/AIDS perceived the various elements of their home environment to interact with their health and wellbeing. Descriptive thematic coding was augmented with higher-level conceptual coding to further develop over-arching conceptual themes. Some participatory analysis elements, including involvement of a community advisory committee (CAC), were included in the analysis process to allow for collaborative inquiry, and to augment and confirm results. Results: The participants (5 Caucasians, 3 Indigenous persons, 1 Chinese-Canadian and 1 African refugee; 5 females, 1 trans-female, and 4 males) lived in a range of housing situations (market rental, subsidized, supportive, and precarious housing). Results from a thematic analysis showed that even when people had access to four-walled housing structures, they didn’t necessarily feel that their living environment was safe, secure, or conducive to having their health and social needs met. Emerging themes highlighted how people define home and their conditions for this designation revealed the ways in which people manage their living spaces to foster feelings of autonomy, security, constancy, and opportunities to strengthen their identity. Discussion: Understanding the distinction between housing and home, and the meaningful dimensions of peoples’ living environments, can help improve options for appropriate housing by moving away from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Furthermore, collaborative inquiry may help address the action-oriented needs of the research findings through community-academic partnerships, knowledge sharing, and knowledge translation activities. / Graduate / 2019-04-23

The aim of this study has been to achieve an increased understanding of the meaning of home for people in homelessness. The study is based on texts written by people in homelessness and a qualitative content analysis has been used to process the material. The result has been analysed with an inductive approach, using parts of the analysis method grounded theory. Three aspects of the meaning of home was identified in the texts; control, self-determination and independence. The lack of a home means a major limitation concerning these aspects, according to the texts. An interpretation of the material based on the notion of identity shows that a large part of the meaning of home for some people in homelessness is to protect, maintain and defend the identity. This creates a deeper understanding of those cases where housing solutions that doesn´t involve control, self-determination and independence, are not successful. The concept of empowerment is also used in the analysis, since the content of empowerment can be linked with the three aspects of the meaning of home that the result indicates. The study justifies an increased level of empowerment for people in homelessness.

在高齡化社會中，老人居住安養的議題愈形重要。長久以來，「與子女同住」一直是國人心目中最理想的老年居住安排方式，但隨著老年人生活自主性與教育程度的提升，傾向不與子女同住的比例亦逐年上升，而選擇「自費安養」型態的老年人口也逐漸增加。本研究希望藉由入住自費安養機構老人本身的觀點，深入瞭解他們與此一居住環境的互動經驗及情感依附，並思考如何使居住環境有「像家」的感受。據此，本論文之研究目的在於：一、探討老人遷住自費安養機構的決策過程。二、分析入住自費安養機構老人與居住環境的互動關係。三、探索入住自費安養機構老人對居住環境的依附情形。四、依據研究結果，提供建議作為推動老人住宅政策與實務工作之參考。 本研究使用質性取向的研究方法，以台北市某家自費安養機構作為研究場域，採用半結構式的深度訪談法進行資料蒐集，共計訪談十三位老人，年齡介於七十一至九十二歲之間。主要的研究結果如下： 一、老人入住自費安養機構是一連串的過程，包括需求的引發、資訊的取得、貨比三家與考量要件、以及最終的決定，而其中遷居過程的參與程度和做決定的自主程度愈高之老人，對於新居的看法愈為正面。 二、在實質環境方面，安養機構最大的特色在於具有多元化的空間設施，老年住民可在個人寢室空間從事獨立活動，在公共空間有較多人際接觸的活動，至於機構外部的活動則受限於老人的行動能力、害怕外部環境潛藏的危險性或是擔心跌倒意外。此外，安養機構經常安排各種休閒活動和社會活動，是入住老人相當有利之處，並為老人帶來許多正面的功能與感受。在社會環境方面，「功能距離的鄰近性」與「社會人口背景的同質性」是老年住民互動關係之主要影響因素；而工作人員是協助老年住民維持獨立生活的支持者；原先的社會支持網絡則是提供老年住民情感支持的主要來源。 三、老年住民對於居住環境多數感到喜歡和滿意，但是否將居住環境視同為「家」，則受到「老人對家的定義或觀念」以及「是否仍擁有原本的住家」兩個因素所影響。綜合而論，老年住民的依附類型主要可歸納為三類：（1）我找到一個理想的地方，將在這裡終老餘生；（2）這裡是一個適合居住的地方，可以協助我維持獨立生活；（3）缺乏情感，希望將來有機會重新安排居住環境。 / On an aging society, it has become an important issue that how people live in their old age. For a long time, “living with children,” to Taiwanese people, has been the best way of living arrangement in later life. However, with the enhancement of autonomy and the upgrading of educational level, more and more elderly tend not to live with their children, and some of them choose to live in congregate housing. From the viewpoint of the elderly living in congregate housing, this study aims to understand their interaction with the living environment, their emotional attachment to it, and how to make the environment feel like a home. Accordingly, the purposes of this study are as following: first, examine the decision-making processes of older adults relocating from home to congregate housing; second, analyze the interactive relationship between the elderly residents and their living environment; third, explore the emotional attachment of the elderly residents to their living environment; forth, based on research findings, provide suggestions for the elderly housing policy and the practitioners. This study employs qualitative research approach, and data collection is gotten from a congregate housing in Taipei, including semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirteen elderly residents aging from 71 to 92. The study findings are listed below: First, relocation is a series of process, including the demand for initiation, information acquisition, comparison, consideration, and the final decision. In this process, the more participation and the more autonomy the elderly have, the more positive their comments for the new residence will be. Second, in physical environment, a wide range of space is the most prominent feature of congregate housing. The elderly residents could engage in independent activities in the individual dwelling units. They would have more interpersonal contacts in the public space. As for outdoor activities, the elderly might be restricted by their mobility, for fear of the potential dangers of the external environment, or falling accidents. Besides, the elderly get many benefits from the leisure and social activities in congregate housing. In the social environment, the interactive relationship between the elderly is influenced by the vicinity of the functional distance and the homogeneity of residents. Staff members of congregate housing help the elderly maintain independence, and original social support networks provide main emotional support to them. Third, most elderly residents are fond of and satisfied with their living environment. Nevertheless, not all of them consider this environment as their home. Viewing it as a home depends on how they define the meaning of home and whether they have self-owned housing. Overall, the attachment type of these elderly residents can be divided into three categories: (1) I found an ideal place to stay throughout my lifetime; (2) this is a suitable place for me to live, and it can help me maintain independence; (3) I have no affection for this place. If given the opportunity, I will try to rearrange my dwelling place.