long-term care

Recent public attention has been drawn to sexualized interactions between older residents living in long-term care through highly publicised nursing home scandals. What is less known is that sexualized interactions also occur between workers and residents in long-term care.

Geragogy is the method and practice of educating older adults. Historically, the principles of geragogy did not discriminate between educational programs that patronized versus programs that empowered older adults.

The concept of home is now being taken up by many long-term care facilities who wish to provide comfortable living arrangements for their residents. In terms of care policies, the notion of ‘home’ also tends to be idealized in both regulated and unregulated settings (Peace & Holland, 2001; Braedley & Martel, 2015).

Last week I had the experience of attending a virtual dementia tour, which was eye-opening and inspiring- yet troubling in terms of ‘representing dementia’. We were greeted by a series of people who immediately sat us down and told us that we were going to learn what it’s like to be old, living with dementia, and residing in a long-term care institution.