“It's a nice country but it's not mine”: Exploring the meanings attached to home, rurality and place for older lesbian, gay and bisexual adults

Willis, Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9774-0130, Raithby, Michele and Maegusuku-Hewett, Tracey 2018. “It's a nice country but it's not mine”: Exploring the meanings attached to home, rurality and place for older lesbian, gay and bisexual adults. Health and Social Care in the Community 26 (6) , pp. 908-916. 10.1111/hsc.12616

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Abstract

An ageing population across European nations, including the United Kingdom, brings with it new challenges for health and social care services and precipitates social policy initiatives targeted at meeting the care and support needs of a rapidly expanding number of older people. Ageing in place is one such policy driver—policy efforts that seek to promote the maintenance of older citizens residing in their own homes for as long as possible with minimal state intervention. Current generations of older lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people have endured homophobia throughout their life histories, and sexual identity can shape perceptions and experiences of ageing, including experiences of home life, community and place. Our objective is to examine the meanings attached to home and place for older LGB adults living independently across three dimensions: rural places as “home,” connections to LGB communities, and social care provision in the home. We present interview findings from a mixed-methods study on the social inclusion of older LGB adults in Wales. Twenty-nine LGB-identifying adults (50–76 years) self-selected to participate in semistructured interviews between 2012 and 2013. Thematic findings from interviews indicate varying and contradictory meanings attached to home life in rural places, the importance of connection to communities of identity across geographical and online localities, and a high degree of ambivalence towards the prospect of receiving social care services in the home. We argue that a more nuanced understanding of the subjective meanings attached to home, rurality and community for older LGB people is needed to fully support LGB citizens to continue to live independently in their homes.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN:	0966-0410
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	24 November 2023
Date of Acceptance:	16 June 2018
Last Modified:	25 Nov 2023 03:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/164263

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