The importance of place-making for quality of life in later life: contrasting home and hospital environments

The interchange between a person (P) and the environments (E) they encounter plays a fundamental role in the quality of life of older adults. A study is presented that concentrates on psychological and architectural perspectives of the P–E interchange and potential successful ageing outcomes. The focus is on two environments mostly been treated separately in the environmental gerontology literature: the home and hospital environment. A conceptualisation for the understanding of P–E interchange in later life is provided, and a set of exemplary empirical findings is presented on how older adults experience both environments. Specific attention is paid to older adults with dementia and related disorders. Findings highlight a range of difficulties in how older adults with dementia experience hospital environments and can be used to guide intervention strategies to improve place-making efforts. A systematic comparison of the home and hospital environments concludes that beyond obvious differences, a number of similarities do exist.