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The will to mobility: life-space satisfaction and distress in people with dementia who live alone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2014

BARBARA TERESA LLOYD  and
CHRISTINE STIRLING
BARBARA TERESA LLOYD*
Affiliation:
Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, Australia.
CHRISTINE STIRLING
Affiliation:
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Tasmania, Australia.
*
Address for correspondence: Christine Stirling, School of Health Sciences, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia. E-mail: Christine.Stirling@utas.edu.au
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Abstract

Increasing numbers of people with dementia reside in single-person households, yet little is known of their experiences and priorities. This exploratory Australian study elicited perceptions of seven people with dementia living alone, regarding their domestic environment and its surroundings. The general aim was to identify unmet service needs in this vulnerable population. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of ‘the will to mobility’ and ‘life-space’, we identified four factors of particular salience to our respondents. These were access to public space, social distance and proximity, changing meanings of space and objects, and imaginative co-presence. Participants provided useful insights into a soon-to-be-common scenario in which increased numbers of people with dementia will be living without a resident carer. The findings have implications for the development of more personalised and targeted dementia care in the domestic setting, more inclusive public planning and more extensive public education programmes.

Keywords

dementialiving alonewill to mobilitylife-spacedementia servicespublic planning
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 9 , October 2015 , pp. 1801 - 1820
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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