L’entrée en maison de retraite: Étude de l’adaptation spatio-territoriale des résidents

Abstract

Getting in a retirement home is often a violent transition for an elderly person as they have to be bereaved of a familiar home to fit in and adapt to a new environment which, too often, has not been chosen by them. This goes with a spatio disappropriation–reappropriation process (Low et Altman, 1992) which may be considered as a sign for adaptation to the premises [Rioux, L., 2004. Les stratégies adaptatives mises en œuvre par les personnes âgées vivant dans leur logement, premiers entretiens de la psychologie, Fédération Française des Psychologues et de Psychologie, Paris, 25 mai 2004]. The research presented in this article is split into three complementary studies: evidence of a double spatial and territorial appropriation process implemented by people getting in a retirement home is brought to the fore, development of a tool which assesses their spatioterritorial adaptation to the new space of living, verification of the relevance of this tool on the applied field. The results are discussed and, even if further research is still needed, they enable us to consider a use by the medical and management staff of this tool assessing the adaptation of the elderly person to their retirement home.