Constructing Cultures of Caring Consumption: An Exploratory Study of the Lived Experiences of Embodiment within the Elderly Care Home

Examines the culture of caring consumption in the context of the everyday experiences of elderly consumers in residential care homes.

In recent years the lived quality of everyday life within elderly community care homes has attracted much media interest within Europe and the USA. This interest often takes the form of policy reports highly critical of the typical quality of care services and lifestyles available to communities of elderly consumers. In the context of an ageing population, the financial implications of different systems of engaging with elderly residents to deliver life experiences consistent with a caring culture have attracted much political interest. The empirical study reported in this paper investigated the lived experience of the context of caring and community among elderly consumers in resident care homes. Using an existential-phenomenological design (Thompson et al, 1989), the study set out to construct a picture of the lived experience of caring, dignity and quality of life, framing those issues through material culture and embodiment. Findings reveal that quality of life is inscribed on the body and that elderly bricoleurs have to work hard to find ways out of instutionalization.