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ABSTRACT
In promoting high physical activity and productive engagement as the motto of successful aging, society has cast individuals living in long-term care (LTC) homes as aging unsuccessfully [Holstein, M. B., and M. Minkler. 2003. “Self, Society and the ‘New Gerontology’.” The Gerontologist 43: 787–796]. The purpose of this paper is to explore ways natural leisure spaces within an LTC home can challenge deficit-based assumptions of decline and dependence in later life. Interviews were conducted with 9 residents, 8 family members and 11 staff recruited from one mid-sized LTC home in Ontario, Canada. The study used a hermeneutic phenomenological method, as described by van Manen [1997. Researching Lived Experience: Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy. London, ON: The Althouse Press]. Lived experiences of participants throughout the interviews revealed how natural leisure spaces sparked continued expressions of individuality, opportunities to nurture relationships and maintain family social roles.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Colleen Whyte is a faculty member in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Brock University, St.Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Her research program is focused within the area of leisure and aging. She is particularly interested in understanding the lived experiences of older adults within Canadian society, and the contributions of recreation and leisure to personal quality of living for older adults.
Darla Fortune is a faculty member in the Department of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her research is embedded in a concern for social justice and aims to create positive change in the lives of individuals who are most at risk of experiencing exclusion from community.