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Abstract:
With increasing age the social and physical environment of elderly persons becomes increasingly focussed upon the home and its immediate surroundings, whilst life within the home ("Wohnen") expands to take in a wider variety of activities. Critical life events and transitions in old age often induce changes both in the way of life within the home and also in housing. The way of life of elderly people in the home ("Alterswohnen") can be defined as the totality of goal-directed activities within the social-physical context of their home and its immediate surroundings. This includes as central elements physical and psychological regeneration, communication, recreation, and the emergence of an emotional relationship to the home. From a stress and coping paradigm, difficulties in home life can be interpreted as the result of transactions between individual and environment. These transactions are influenced by the cognitive appraisal of the living situation and by the efforts of the individual to cope with the stressful aspects of home life.