Conserving Habitus: Home, Couplehood and Dementia

ABSTRACT

Compared to research on home in circumstances of aging, place and care, our knowledge about home in relation to couplehood is limited despite increases in the percentage of married and cohabiting older people in the UK. Specifically, our understanding of the experience and meaning of home for couples where one partner has dementia remains under-explored. This article presents a scoping review of published empirical literature to examine older couples’ experiences of home in dementia. The literature identified and reviewed through searching academic databases and Google Scholar is interdisciplinary and a thematic analysis suggests interactions of couplehood, home and dementia. To discuss these interactions, we use Bourdieu’s framework of field, capital, practice and habitus. We observe that habitus may gradually alter and fracture. But, in locating and supporting the performance of (adapted) everyday relationships and domestic practices, home has a distinct role in contributing to conserving habitus and in turn continuity of relationships and home. The gradual fracturing of habitus with the progression of dementia however also suggests that the continuity of relationships and home remain contingent, but this needs further investigation. It is an element of home futures that cannot remain invisible.

KEYWORDS:

• older couples
• dementia
• home
• habitus
• practices
• partners

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Manik Gopinath

MANIK GOPINATH TRAINED AS AN ARCHITECT AND TOWN PLANNER, MANIK GOPINATH’S RESEARCH CENTERS ON INTERSECTIONS OF AGING, PLACE AND WELLBEING. SHE IS LECTURER IN AGEING IN THE SCHOOL OF HEALTH, WELLBEING AND SOCIAL CARE, FACULTY OF WELLBEING, EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE STUDIES, The OPEN UNIVERSITY, Milton Keynes. [email protected]

Sheila Peace

SHEILA PEACE A SOCIAL GEOGRAPHER BY DISCIPLINE, SHEILA PEACE HAS A LONG HISTORY IN ENVIRONMENTAL GERONTOLOGY ACROSS SETTINGS AND PLACES. SHE IS EMERITUS PROFESSOR IN THE SCHOOL OF HEALTH, WELLBEING AND SOCIAL CARE, FACULTY OF WELLBEING, EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE STUDIES, The OPEN UNIVERSITY, Milton Keynes. [email protected]

Caroline Holland

CAROLINE HOLLAND FOLLOWING A CAREER IN HOUSING MANAGEMENT, CAROLINE HOLLAND BECAME RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care, FACULTY OF WELLBEING, EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE STUDIES, The OPEN UNIVERSITY, Milton Keynes AND A MEMBER OF THE CENTRE FOR AGEING AND BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES. HER WORK FOCUSES ON AGING, ENVIRONMENTS, TECHNOLOGIES AND LEARNING IN LATER LIFE. [email protected]