What does a home mean and when does it cease to be a home? Home as a setting for rehabilitation and care.

Abstract

This article addresses three issues: (1) what does a home mean to a person? (2) what happens when the patients are rehabilitated in the home? and (3) can the home become a workplace for a professional? A literature review based on research literature and on the author's research project in the north of Sweden 'Rehabilitation in a home setting--ethical, psychological and occupational therapeutic aspects,. For most people, the home is an important and meaningful place, where ultimate goals can be cultivated, sheltered from the intrusions of public life. In connection with chronic illness, functional impairment and rehabilitation in the home, the individual will often lose the home as a private territory and much of his/her own autonomy. No longer is the home an existential centre for the family, but a place where many unfamiliar people come and go. Rehabilitation in a home setting means, furthermore, that the public sector is moved into the home, and the home has to function as a public workplace, ensuring a good working environment. The question for the future is: can the combination of home and public workplace work at all? More research is needed to answer this question. Prior documented experiences show that it is difficult.