Purpose For most people, nursing homes are a place they reside for the rest of their lives. Therefore, a nursing home, apart from providing good care, has to provide for a sense of home (1). Mostly professionals are responsible for this sense of home. The aim of this study was to explore how professionals (both care professionals, managers, suppliers of nursing home equipment and architects experience 'sense of home' in a nursing home.
Method Over 70 persons (±20-65 years old, 2/3 women) having varying professional involvement in nursing homes participated. The Lego serious play method was used to engage participants in a personal and authentic manner (2). After building their model of 'sense of home', participants recorded their main issues on a sticky note. The models represented the personal stories of the participants, who shared the meaning of their model.
Results & Discussion The findings revealed that a range of themes were considered important by the participants (table 1). The main themes involved privacy, space, mobility and freedom, for instance, to open doors, social engagement, being recognised as the person used to before, and nature or the presence of plants and animals. These results are compared with results of a recently performed literature review and photography supported research in residents, family and staff in four nursing homes (3).