It's Not Quite Like Home: a Study of Insitutionalized Seniors' Experiences

This thesis is a post-structural piece which focuses on several seniors living in nursing homes in British Columbia, Canada and their experiences based on the policies that govern their daily lives. The methods are based on the principles of an institutional ethnography from an empowerment perspective. This is a qualitative study with in-depth interviews of 8 seniors over a 3 year period. Results of this study include several key paradoxes in which institutionalized seniors live and are quoted as; busy being bored, safe but silenced, hurry up and wait and finally, home but not home. The recommendations include a call for a new approach to policy development where institutionalized seniors are concerned, a great focus on what is not being said by seniors due to daily oppressive experiences in their environment and consideration for holistic approaches to care rather than client-centred care which remains a veiled term of oppression for these seniors.