The experiences of place: Veterans with dementia making meaning of their environments

Abstract

Little research has examined how older veterans view the long-term care facility as place and how they make meaning of their experiences within specific places. This study examined seven older veterans’ meanings of place within the cognitive support unit of a veteran's hospital and in a summer camp setting. In the facility, the environment was interpreted as restrictive. At camp, the environment was interpreted as freeing. Each of the environments was experienced within the horizons of meaning of residents’ lives [Gubrium, J.F., 1993. Speaking of Life: Horizons of Meaning for Nursing Home Residents. Aldine de Gruyter, Hawthorne, NY.]. What was evident here was that the experiences in both places, both in the moment and through horizons of meaning, contributed to how residents created a sense of place in these two distinct environments.