Home as a health promotion setting for older adults

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. Study design: 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.