The Perspective of Residents Living With Dementia Toward Their Built Environment: A Walking Interview Study in German Nursing Homes

Background and Objectives In long-term care, the built environment can help residents maintain activities of daily living and thus positively influence their quality of life. The adequacy of the built environment can be systematically assessed using assessment tools. The German Environmental Audit Tool (G-EAT) was translated and psychometrically tested for the German setting. Previous research has shown that the perspective of people living with dementia has not been fully considered in this adaptation. To explore the residents' perspective, the question of how residents living with dementia experience the built environment of nursing homes was investigated.Research Design and Methods Walking interviews were conducted with residents. Inclusion criteria for participation were the presence of dementia (medically diagnosed or indicated by symptoms) and the ability to express themselves verbally in German. For data analysis, the audio material was transcribed and supplemented by the researchers' field notes and photographs. Data analysis followed an interpretative phenomenological approach.Results Fourteen residents from 2 nursing homes participated in the walking interviews. A total of 3 themes were identified: (1) being able to maintain the feeling "to refurnish" or having to let it go, (2) experiencing the limits and potentials of being independent because of the built environment, and (3) living in a community of residents.Discussion and Implications The perspective of the living environment of people living with dementia in nursing homes adds to the knowledge of assessment-based data. Boundaries between physical and social environments are experienced as fluid by residents. They do not see their living space as limited to their living unit but describe the nursing home as a living environment. This broadens the perspective of existing structural definitions in the setting.