Ambivalent return: Older adults' homecoming after wartime displacement

Little is known about how older adults experience their return home after wartime displacement, particularly when home and community are altered or remain insecure. This longitudinal qualitative study examined continuity and change across the displacement-return transition.

Twelve participants (aged 65-92), previously interviewed during displacement (T1), were re-interviewed after returning home (T2) using a qualitative descriptive approach with thematic analysis.

Three themes emerged: (1) the unsettled return, involving altered security, unfamiliarity within the home, and disrupted community life; (2) continuity of social relationships and activities after return; and (3) shifts in life perspective and self-perception. These themes describe the shared dimensions of post-return experience, whereas the complementary diachronic analysis examined how these dimensions changed and combined across T1 and T2. A diachronic analysis identified four return trajectories: functioning but incomplete; ambivalent or gradual return requiring active reorganization; return supported by communal and social continuity and use of personal resources; and ongoing erosion and unresolved damage.

These findings demonstrate that return is not restoration but a reconfiguration of person-environment fit, place identity, belonging, and security in later life. For older adults, this transition involved rebuilding environmental familiarity, security, belonging, and agency rather than simply resuming pre-displacement life. The study highlights social infrastructure as critical for post-return adaptation, underscoring the need for policies recognizing the return process as a significant transition requiring continued communal support.