“It doesn’t really feel like home anymore”: A qualitative study of the meaning of home for older adults living in a nursing home or in their own home in France

Background : In France, ageing policies focus on maintaining older adults in their private residences using home care. The present study explored the meaning of home in the context of care for older adults living in nursing homes or their own homes in France, and how the meaning of home for older adults is created by occupations and disrupted by care practices in both institutional settings and private residences. Methods : We performed walking interviews and participant observations with 28 older adults, 14 in their own homes and 14 in nursing homes. A thematic analysis and a discursive analysis based on modal logic were used to understand participants’ experiences and values related to occupations and places. Results : The meaning of ‘home’ is complex and equivocal. Regardless of where they lived, participants expressed negative opinions about interventions by care staff. The feeling at home emerges through four key elements: 1) practices associated with the place, 2) continuation of the person’s longstanding occupations, 3) occupational opportunities, and 4) the social anchoring of occupational opportunities. Discussion : ‘Feeling at home’ is not determined solely by a private dwelling or an institutional setting; rather, it emerges through continuity of occupations, personal agency, and social relationships. The parallel between nursing homes and their own homes suggests that policies and care practices should be reframed to preserve older adults’ sense of home by acknowledging individual life courses, offering flexibility in routines, and supporting occupational engagement. An occupational lens can thus enrich existing reforms, ensuring that environmental, social, and personal factors converge to maintain and foster the feeling of home in later life.