Homes In Norway Research Articles

Study Shows Association Between Pain and Depression in Dementia

Pain and depression are strongly related in dementia regardless of analgesic or antidepressant use, a large, prospective Norwegian study has shown. This study (J Affect Dis 2017;218:8–14) combined prospective data on 931 patients, two-thirds of whom were women, all with mild cognitive impairment and an average age of 85.4 years. The data were taken from two independent studies of multiple nursing homes in Norway. In the first study, 684 individuals with dementia who lived in one of 47 centers were evaluated at baseline and at 6 months between January 2012 and June 2014. In the second study 247 individuals with dementia living in one of 26 centers were analyzed for pain and depression at baseline and at 4 months between April 2014 and June 2015. In both studies, cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Pain was assessed using the Mobilization-Observation-Behavior-Intensity-Dementia-2 (MOBID-2) pain scale. Depression was measured using the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD). The Neuropsychiatric Inventory–Nursing Home version (NPI-NH) assessed neuropsychiatric symptoms; the NPI depression subscale scores were used as secondary outcome measures. Pain at baseline was statistically significantly associated with depression at the follow-up points in both studies; however, after adjusting for covariates, only the second study retained the statistically significant association. Meanwhile, unadjusted rates of depression at baseline were statistically significantly associated with pain at follow-up evaluation in both studies, but only the first study retained its statistically significant association after adjusting for covariates. In their mixed model analyses, Ane Erdal, a PhD candidate in the global public health and primary care department and Centre for Elderly and Nursing Home Medicine at the University of Bergen in Norway, and her colleagues found that the patients with more pain were statistically significantly more depressed than those with less pain, and that the reverse was also true. An increase of 1 point on the MOBID-2 scale was associated with an increase of 0.48 on the CSDD scale and also with an increase of 0.11 on the NPI depression subscale. An increase of 1 point on the CSDD scale was associated with an increase of 0.10 on the MOBID-2 scale. The use of analgesics was shown to be statistically significantly associated with both pain and depression. Residents who received an increased number of analgesics from baseline to follow-up had statistically significantly increased pain and increased depression during the same period. The number of antidepressants prescribed to a resident was statistically significantly associated with their depressive symptoms, but this was not true for pain. When pain and depression were assessed according to levels of cognitive function, pain was statistically significantly associated with increased depression in people with mild and moderate cognitive impairment. It was nearly statistically significant in residents with severe cognitive impairment, but was not statistically significantly associated in those with no impairment or whose impairment was questionable. Depression was similarly associated with pain in mild, moderate, and severe cognitive impairment, but not in those with either no impairment or questionable impairment. The authors concluded that over time, reduced pain intensity is associated with future reductions in depressive symptoms across all levels of cognitive impairment, and that consideration of the equipoise of analgesic and antidepressant prescribing in this population is particularly important. Helen Jones is a NJ-based freelance writer.

Same, Same but Different: Norwegian Nursing Homes Betwixt Equality and Autonomy

Nursing homes in Norway – as the health care sector in general – are generally presented and perceived as promoting the ideal of equality and universality. Nursing homes are meant to be similar or even “equal”; offering not only universal access but also similar care and support for its residents. Such is not necessarily the reality for Norwegian nursing homes. Nursing homes differ, not only in formal characteristics such as size, ownership and location, but also in degree of autonomy and independence. In general, nursing homes in Norway can be described as being in a perpetual tension between ideals of equality and universality on one side and autonomy and independence on the other. Consequently, nursing homes exhibit varying degrees of autonomy and self-governance. Such relative autonomy, we will argue in this paper, is grounded in the regulatory framework for Norwegian nursing homes. Exemplified with a municipality and a specific nursing home, we will demonstrate that a large bulk of the decision-making concerning the daily operations of nursing homes is placed locally. We see this premise as facilitating diversity and autonomy, producing variation between nursing homes. Nursing homes can, given this context, adapt to a flexible framework, securing local adjustments suitable for the local needs of administrators, staff and residents. The non-specific modes of governance can, in other words, contribute to flexibility and autonomy, although not necessarily in line with an overall ideal of universality.

Particulate Matter 2.5 Exposure and Self-Reported Use of Wood Stoves and Other Indoor Combustion Sources in Urban Nonsmoking Homes in Norway

Few studies have examined particulate matter (PM) exposure from self-reported use of wood stoves and other indoor combustion sources in urban settings in developed countries. We measured concentrations of indoor PM < 2.5 microns (PM2.5) for one week with the MicroPEM™ nephelometer in 36 households in the greater Oslo, Norway metropolitan area. We examined indoor PM2.5 levels in relation to use of wood stoves and other combustion sources during a 7 day monitoring period using mixed effects linear models with adjustment for ambient PM2.5 levels. Mean hourly indoor PM2.5 concentrations were higher (p = 0.04) for the 14 homes with wood stove use (15.6 μg/m3) than for the 22 homes without (12.6 μg/m3). Moreover, mean hourly PM2.5 was higher (p = 0.001) for use of wood stoves made before 1997 (6 homes, 20.2 μg/m3), when wood stove emission limits were instituted in Norway, compared to newer wood stoves (8 homes, 11.9 μg/m3) which had mean hourly values similar to control homes. Increased PM2.5 levels during diary-reported burning of candles was detected independently of concomitant wood stove use. These results suggest that self-reported use of wood stoves, particularly older stoves, and other combustion sources, such as candles, are associated with indoor PM2.5 measurements in an urban population from a high income country.

Challenges in maintaining satisfactory documentation routines and evidence-based diabetes management in nursing homes

Introduction: The increasing prevalence of diabetes worldwide entails an expected rise in the number of older individuals with diabetes needing nursing home placement. Internationally, a consistent lack of adherence to clinical guidelines has been identified in the care of older people. In this study, we therefore investigated whether diabetes management in a sample of nursing homes in Norway and Iceland was in accordance with clinical guideline recommendations.Methods: We used a descriptive cross-sectional study design to assess diabetes management in 12 nursing homes: eight in Norway and four in Iceland.Results: We identified 162 residents with diabetes. The diagnosis of diabetes was available for 100% of the residents in the nursing homes in Iceland and respectively for 81 and 51% of the residents in southwestern and northern Norway. Totally, 3% of the residents with diabetes had a treatment goal for blood glucose regulation (HbA1c) documented in their medical record, 48% had agreed individualized rout...

Psychometric properties of the Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture in Norwegian nursing homes.

BackgroundDeveloping a culture where staff are actively aware of how to prevent adverse events is a challenge. The use of survey tools to assess the status of patient safety culture seems to be acceptable as an early step in improving patient safety. The Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture (NHSOPSC) includes 12 dimensions and is specifically developed for nursing homes. In this study, we describe a Norwegian version of the NHSOPSC and assess its psychometric properties when tested on a sample of healthcare staff in nursing homes.MethodsThe NHSOPSC was translated into Norwegian and pilot tested before being distributed to 12 nursing homes in Norway. Of the 671 healthcare staff invited, 466 (69 %) answered the questionnaire. SPSS 23.0 was used for descriptive data analysis and estimating internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha). The dimensional structure of the questionnaire was tested by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using Mplus (version 7.2).ResultsThe CFA testing of the original 12-factor solution suggested that some modifications were needed because of the high correlations between three of the latent factors. A subsequent analysis resulted in a final ten-factor solution. The final model showed acceptable fit to the data (root mean square error of approximation = 0.060, 90 % confidence interval: 0.057–0.063, comparative fit index = 0.934, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.926, χ2 = 2058.33, df = 765, p < 0.001) and acceptable factor loadings ranging from 0.402 to 0.891. Moreover, moderate-to-strong correlations ranging from 0.455 to 0.812 were found between the ten latent factors. Finally, moderate-to-high correlations were found between the ten latent factors and an overall rating of patient safety in the nursing home.ConclusionsFactor analysis indicated that a modified ten-factor model fitted the data set in a Norwegian community healthcare context with acceptable goodness-of-fit values and could be recommended as a useful tool to assess staff perceptions of patient safety issues in Norwegian nursing homes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1706-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Making Space a Home: Role of Homeland-Based Cultural Practices in Homemaking of Tamils and Somalis in Norway

This article looks at the relationship between homeland-based cultural practices and the homemaking process of first-generation members of the Tamil and Somali diaspora communities in Norway. There are around 13000 Tamils and 25000 Somalis currently living in Norway, adopting practices and habits that are culturally rooted in the lifestyle of their country of origin. This article does not see country-of-origin orientation and home in Norway as opposites, but rather as complementary processes. Thus, this article argues that homeland-based cultural practices of Tamils and Somalis are part of their homemaking in Norway to establish a space of comfort. The main empirical base of the paper is grounded in 40 interviews of first-generation immigrants, 25 of Tamils and 15 of Somalis.

Facilitating change from a distance - a story of success? A discussion on leaders' styles in facilitating change in four nursing homes in Norway.

To examine the influence of leadership when facilitating change in nursing homes. The study is a part of an education intervention for care staff to prevent the use of restraint in nursing home residents with dementia in 24 nursing homes (NHs) in Norway. Leadership is known to be a fundamental factor for success of evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation in health services. However, the type of leadership that strengthens the processes of change remains to be clarified. A multi-site comparative ethnography was performed in four nursing homes to investigate how contextual factors influenced the implementation. The analysis was informed by the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) framework, and in particular the sub-element of leadership. Different leadership styles to facilitate change were identified. Paradoxically, a strong collective and collaborative leadership style was found to hamper change in one particular home, whereas a remote leadership style combined with almost no cooperation with staff proved successful in another setting. The study indicates that leadership cannot be understood on a low-high continuum as suggested by the PARIHS framework, but rather as a factor characterised by diversity. Our study indicates, as a minimum, that a leader's presence is necessary to facilitate the internal processes in order more successfully to implement EBP.

Understanding organizational and cultural premises for quality of care in nursing homes: an ethnographic study.

BackgroundInternationally, there are concerns about the quality of care in nursing homes. The concept of ‘corporate culture’ as an internal variable could be seen as the means to improve quality of care and quality of life for the residents. The aim of this article was to describe the nursing home culture from the staff’s perspective and to include how the residents describe quality of care.MethodsAn ethnographic design was employed. A purposive sample of four municipal public nursing homes in Norway with long-term care residents was included in the study. Data were collected by participant observation including informal conversation with the staff, and in-depth interviews with 15 residents using a narrative approach.ResultsThe main findings were that organizational cultures could be seen as relatively stable corporate cultures described as ‘personalities’ with characteristics that were common for all nursing homes (conformity) and typical traits that were present in some nursing homes, but that they were also like no other nursing home (distinctiveness). Conformity (‘Every nursing home is like all other nursing homes’) meant that nursing home organizations formed their services according to a perception of what residents in general need and expect. Trait (‘Every nursing home is like some other nursing homes’) expressed typologies of nursing homes: residency, medical, safeguard or family orientation. The distinctness of each nursing home (‘Every nursing home is like no other nursing home’) was expressed in unique features of the nursing home; the characteristics of the nursing home involved certain patterns of structure, cultural assumptions and interactions that were unique in each nursing home. Nursing home residents experienced quality of care as ‘The nursing home as my home’ and ‘Interpersonal care quality’. The resident group in the different types of nursing homes were unique, and the experience of quality of care seemed to depend on whether their unique needs and expectations were met or not.ConclusionIn order to create a sustainable nursing home service the service needs to be characterized by learning and openness to change and must actually implement practices that respond to the resident and his or her family’s values.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-015-1171-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Når mor ikke vil spise – Etiske dilemmaer i møte med underernærte mennesker med demens i sykehjem

Aim This article explores the ethical dilemmas nurses in nursing homes experience when caring for malnourished patents with dementia. The background for the study is the increasing number of patients with dementia in nursing homes in Norway, and the growing awareness of malnutrition amongst these patients. Method The study has a qualitative, descriptive design. Data came from four focus group interviews with 15 nurses working with patients with dementia from six different nursing homes. The transcribed interviews were analysed and five ethical dilemmas were identified. Findings The ethical dilemmas were: ‘Guilty conscience or abuse against patient’, ‘To take account of patient or relatives’, ‘Professional judgment or national guidelines’, ‘Busy times lead to weight loss for patients’ and ‘Reflection with colleagues or professional uncertainty’. Conclusion By understanding and articulating ethical dilemmas nurses experience in caring for undernourished patients with dementia, these challenges can be better dealt with. By reflecting upon the various forms of pressure nurses face in every day practice, they can be better prepared to act for the benefit of malnourished patients with dementia.

To Die at Home or to End Life in an Institution

In the Western world, 60%-80% of all deaths occur in an institution. This study aimed to determine the main causes for the low proportion of deaths at home in Norway. A retrospective cohort study was conducted in six Norwegian municipalities. The study employed official statistics and structured interviews with key staff individuals (spring 2012). We included 41 individuals that received palliative home care; 21 died at home. The rate of deaths at home may be increased by an acceptance of death and confidence that home is a good, safe place to die. This study showed how challenging it was for the family and health personnel to be a fellow Pellegrino in the last steps of life. However, when physical distress is under control, and when a dying patient and his significant other genuinely wish for death at home, it is necessary to control physical distress. Greater holistic well-being may then be achieved at home than in the hospital.

The course of depressive symptoms as measured by the Cornell scale for depression in dementia over 74 months in 1158 nursing home residents

BackgroundDepressive symptoms and depression are common in nursing home residents. However, longitudinal studies of depression in nursing home residents are scarce and the sample sizes are small. This study aimed to investigate the course of depressive symptoms as measured by the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD) and associated explanatory demographic and clinical variables. MethodsA longitudinal study over 74 months of 1158 nursing home residents aged 50 years and older from twenty six nursing homes in Norway where data was collected at five time points. Results“Irritability” was the most prevalent, incident and persistent CSDD symptom. Compared with the baseline assessment, the likelihood of the mood symptoms “suicidal ideation,” “pessimism” and “delusions” being present was lower at all subsequent assessments. This persisted after adjusting for the severity of dementia. The severity of depression as measured by CSDD decreased over 74 months when adjusting for relevant resident variables. Poorer physical health, higher number of medications, more severe dementia and use of antidepressants were associated with higher depression score. LimitationsDepression and dementia were not diagnosed according to standardized diagnostic criteria. The use of CSDD did not include a clinician׳s interview with the patient. This could have implications for the generalization of the results. ConclusionThis study adds important knowledge about the long-term course of depressive symptoms and depression for residents in nursing homes, and underlines the importance to pay close attention to the overlap between depression and dementia symptoms when evaluating depression in this setting.

Nothing to complain about? Residents' and relatives' views on a "good life" and ethical challenges in nursing homes.

Background:Nursing home residents are a vulnerable population. Most of them suffer from multi-morbidity, while many have cognitive impairment or dementia and need care around the clock. Several ethical challenges in nursing homes have been described in the scientific literature. Most studies have used staff members as informants, some have focused on the relatives’ view, but substantial knowledge about the residents’ perspective is lacking.Objective:To study what nursing home residents and their relatives perceive as ethical challenges in Norwegian nursing homes.Research design:A qualitative design with in-depth interviews with nursing home residents, and focus-group interviews with relatives of nursing home residents. The digitally recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim. Analysis was based on Interpretive Description.Participants and research context:A total of 25 nursing home residents from nine nursing homes in Norway, and 18 relatives of nursing home residents from three of these nursing homes.Ethical considerations:This study was reported to and approved by the Regional Ethics Committee in Oslo, Norway.Findings and discussion:The main ethical challenges in Norwegian nursing homes from the residents’ and relatives’ perspective were as follows: (a) acceptance and adaptation, (b) well-being and a good life, (c) autonomy and self-determination, and (d) lack of resources. The relationship with the staff was of outmost importance and was experienced as both rewarding and problematic. None of the residents in our study mentioned ethical challenges connected to end-of-life care.Conclusion:Residents and relatives experience ethical challenges in Norwegian nursing homes, mostly connected to “everyday ethical issues.”

Drug treatment at the end of life: An epidemiologic study in nursing homes

Objective. To examine drug treatment in nursing home patients at the end of life, and identify predictors of palliative drug therapy. Design. A historical cohort study. Setting. Three urban nursing homes in Norway. Subjects. All patients admitted from January 2008 and deceased before February 2013. Main outcome measures. Drug prescriptions, diagnoses, and demographic data were collected from electronic patient records. Palliative end-of-life drug treatment was defined on the basis of indication, drug, and formulation. Results. 524 patients were included, median (range) age at death 86 (19–104) years, 59% women. On the day of death, 99.4% of the study population had active prescriptions; 74.2% had palliative drugs either alone (26.9%) or concomitantly with curative/preventive drugs (47.3%). Palliative drugs were associated with nursing home, length of stay > 16 months (AOR 2.10, 95% CI 1.12–3.94), age (1.03, 1.005–1.05), and a diagnosis of cancer (2.12, 1.19–3.76). Most initiations of palliative drugs and withdrawals of curative/preventive drugs took place on the day of death. Conclusion. Palliative drug therapy and drug therapy changes are common for nursing home patients on the last day of life. Improvements in end-of-life care in nursing homes imply addressing prognostication and earlier response to palliative needs.

The pendulum time of life: the experience of time, when living with severe incurable disease--a phenomenological and philosophical study.

The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of time when living with severe incurable disease. A phenomenological and philosophical approach of description and deciphering were used. In our modern health care system there is an on-going focus on utilizing and recording the use of time, but less focus on the patient's experience of time, which highlights the need to explore the patients' experiences, particularly when life is vulnerable and time is limited. The empirical data consisted of 26 open-ended interviews with 23 participants receiving palliative care at home, in hospital or in a nursing home in Norway. The theoretical frameworks used are mainly based upon K. Martinsens philosophy of care,K. E. Løgstrup phenomenological philosophy,in addition to C. Saunders' hospice philosophy, L. Feigenberg's thanatology and U. Qvarnström's research exploring patient's reactions to impending death. Experience of time is described as being a movement that moves the individual towards death in the field of opposites, and deciphered to be a universal, but a typical and unique experience emerging through three integrated levels: Sense of time; where time is described as a movement that is proceeding at varying speeds. Relate to time; where the awareness of limited life changes the understanding of time to be more existential. Being in time; where limited time seems to clarify the basic living conditions and phenomena of life. The existence of life when the prospect of death is present is characterized by emotional swings that move within polarizing dimensions which is reflected in the experience of time illustrated as the moves of the pendulum in a grandfather clock. The diversity of the experience of time is oscillating between going fast or slow, being busy or calm, being unpredictable but predictable, safe or unsafe and between being good or bad, depending on the embodied situation of the individual.

Attitudes towards sickness absence and sickness presenteeism in health and care sectors in Norway and Denmark: a qualitative study.

BackgroundIn the health and care sector, sickness absence and sickness presenteeism are frequent phenomena and constitute a field in need of exploration. Attitudes towards sickness absence involve also attitudes towards sickness presenteeism, i.e. going to work while sick, confirmed by previous studies. Sickness behavior, reflecting attitudes on work absence, could differ between countries and influence absence rates. But little is known about attitudes towards sickness absence and sickness presenteeism in the health and care sectors in Norway and Denmark. The aim of the present paper is therefore to explore attitudes towards sickness absence and sickness presenteeism among nursing home employees in both countries.MethodsEight focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide, the main attention of which was attitudes towards sickness absence and sickness presenteeism. FGDs were conducted in two nursing homes in Norway and two in Denmark, with different geographic locations: one in a rural area and one in an urban area in each country. FGDs were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using framework analysis to identify major themes and explanatory patterns.ResultsFour major significant themes were identified from the FGDs: a) sickness absence and sickness presenteeism, b) acceptable causes of sickness absence, c) job identity, and d) organization of work and physical aspects of the workplace. Our analyses showed that social commitment and loyalty to residents and colleagues was important for sickness absence and sickness presenteeism, as were perceived acceptable and non-acceptable reasons for sickness absence. Organization of work and physical aspects of the workplace were also found to have an influence on attitudes towards sickness absence.ConclusionsThe general interpretation of the findings was that attitudes towards sickness absence and sickness presenteeism among nursing home employees were embedded in situational patterns of moral relationships and were connected to a specific job identity. These patterns were constituted by the perception of colleagues, the social commitment to residents, and they influence on what was deemed as acceptable and non-acceptable reasons for sickness absence. In other words, attitudes towards sickness absence and sickness presenteeism were socially and morally determined at personal levels by an overall concept of work, independent of country.

Introduction to '110 Volts at Home: The American Lista' by Siv Ringdal

The following extract from the book Det Amerikanske Lista: Med 110 volt i huset (Pax Forlag, Oslo, 2002) by the ethnologist Siv Ringdal is the second instalment of the Design History Society and Journal of Design History’s new initiative to publish translations of selected pieces of scholarship with a significant potential interest beyond their original native language readership. The book explores how American culture, especially material culture, has had an extraordinary influence on everyday life in the rural community of Lista, a small peninsula in the south-west of Norway. Whereas most emigration from Norway to the USA, substantial in the nineteenth and well into the twentieth centuries, took the form of permanent settlement on farmland, particularly in the American Mid-West, the movements between Lista and the USA that Ringdal traces are reciprocal. From about 1890 to about 1970, what Ringdal terms ‘work migrations’ became the norm in this local community, where young girls and boys, couples, and even family fathers, would go America, normally to New York, to work—sometimes for years on end, sometimes in multiple stints—before eventually settling down for good back home in Norway. The goal was of course to accumulate money and material goods for the present or future family life back home.

Association Between Inherited CYP2D6/2C19 Phenotypes and Anticholinergic Measures in Elderly Patients Using Anticholinergic Drugs

To compare measures of anticholinergic activity between metabolic phenotypes of the polymorphic enzymes cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) and CYP2C19 in the elderly patients exposed to anticholinergic agents. Long-term nursing home patients (n = 80) with an anticholinergic drug scale (ADS) score ≥3 were recruited from 22 nursing homes in Norway. Based on pharmacogenetic analyses of mutations encoding absent CYP2D6 or CYP2C19 metabolism, patients were divided into subgroups of poor metabolizers (PMs) (n = 8) and extensive metabolizers (n = 72). Serum anticholinergic activity (SAA) was determined by a validated, 96-well format radio receptor assay and adjusted for ADS score. Unadjusted and adjusted SAAs, mouth dryness, and cognitive function (Mini-Mental State Examination and verbal recall tests from Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer Disease) were compared between the subgroups with Mann-Whitney tests. The study population was represented by 78% women, 68% had mild to moderate dementia, and mean age was 86 years. More than 80% used more than 1 anticholinergic agent, and their median ADS score was 4. The subpopulation of PMs had significantly higher median SAA than the extensive metabolizers (10.3 versus 4.2 pmol atropine equivalents per milliliter, P = 0.012). This difference remained significant after adjusting for ADS score (P = 0.013). No significant differences in mouth dryness and cognitive function were observed between the subgroups (P > 0.3). These preliminary findings suggest that elderly CYP2D6/CYP2C19 PMs with a high anticholinergic drug burden are at increased risk of elevated SAA. Whether PMs are also more prone to experience anticholinergic side effects needs to be further studied in larger patient populations.

Being in transit and in transition The experience of time at the place, when living with severe incurable disease ‐ a phenomenological study

The aim of this study is to describe the experience of time as it presents itself at the place being situated when living with severe incurable disease and receiving palliative care. The empirical data consist of 26 open-ended interviews with 23 patients receiving palliative care at home, at a palliative day care, in a palliative bed unit in hospital or in a nursing home in Norway. A common meaning of a shifting space for living emerged from the analysis and was revealed through three different aspects: (i) Transition from a predictable to an unpredictable time: To live with severe incurable disease marks a transition to a changed life involving an ongoing weakened and altered body with bothersome symptoms making experience of time different and unpredictable. (ii) Transition between a safe and unsafe time: When time is unpredictable, feeling safe is revealed as essential to how time is experienced at the place being situated. (iii) To be in transition from a homely to a homeless existence: In a time of increased bodily weakness, unpredictable ailments and displacements, the sense of belonging to the place is revealed as significant to the experience of time. Not knowing where to be in a time of change is like an existential cry of distress where the foothold in existence is lost. The findings are discussed and interpreted as an embodied experience originating from the passage of time continually affecting life sometimes so fundamentally that it marks a transition to a changed space of life that is reflected in the experience of time.

Performing Home in Mobility: Second Homes in Norway

This paper aims at studying how the increase in the number of second homes in Norway can be interpreted as an expression of changes in cultural attitudes towards home. We have set out to study two conceptual pairings in more detail: home and mobility, and centre (urbanity) and periphery (rurality). The former pairing is significant because the concept of home now has a subordinated role in the interpretation of post-modern society, while mobility is regarded commonly as the dominating mechanism. With a peripatetic lifestyle, a ‘home’ may comprise various locations, related to both place and mobility. Based on interviews in two major second-home areas, we assert that mobility between homes represents a reorganization of spatiality that relates to how different practices are linked to different home locations, as well as forging stronger links between centre and periphery.

Beyond the Transfer of Capital? Second-Home Owners as Competence Brokers for Rural Entrepreneurship and Innovation

The current paper addresses the possible role of second-home owners as competence brokers in terms of rural entrepreneurship and innovation. Empirically, the paper draws on a case study of second-home owners from two municipalities in Telemark, one of the regions with the highest densities of second homes in Norway. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire on 2200 second-home owners and with a response rate of 43% and 47%, respectively. The study results show that the second-home owners demonstrate in different ways a genuine interest in their second-home community, and also a willingness to use their knowledge and competence to contribute to the development of the local economy. Furthermore, we have also seen that an impressive number of second-home owners are educated to a higher level, within a variety of industrial fields and sectors, and have extensive managerial and hands-on experience from establishing and developing companies: in other words, they have both the interest and willingness and the required skills and experiences to become important competence brokers for local entrepreneurship and innovation.