April 5, 2005—Living in Mortal Time

The central theme of this dialogue is exploration of extended mortal time. Early in her breast cancer treatment, one of Nell’s physicians had estimated a much shorter lifespan; she expected the prediction to come true. She is prepared to die and is frustrated when she learns it is not time. Nell is finding comfort in the rituals of Catholic Church in which she was raised, even though she describes herself as “a fitfully practicing Catholic” with Buddhist leanings. She appreciates the opportunity for the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick while at the same time questioning the many problems of the institutional church, including patriarchy. She contends with the practical problems of managing her deteriorating body as well as contemplating “pure love as the reward on the other side” when she dies. Nell is making peace with her time on earth. She is not lying passively but actively engaging her life as it comes to an end. A profound insight is finding herself feeling at home in the world for the first time in her entire life.

Mentoring at the Boundary: Interdisciplinarity and the International Student of Color in Communication

In this paper, I will discuss mentoring within the discipline of Communication by centering international scholars, who are translated as people of color in the U.S. and are engaged with questions drawn from the context of their nations of origin. How do you enable such a scholar to traverse boundaries – national and disciplinary with the selfassurance that ostensibly comes from feeling at home? Briefly discussing the history of the institutionalization of Communication as an academic discipline, I ask what it means to mentor scholars of color engaged with transnational work within a space that centers the nation-state as a bounded territory, in general and the U.S. in particular. Drawing on transnational and women of color feminist theorization and praxis, I also draw out the productive collaborations and relationships forged when mentoring reveals the processes through which the discipline reiterates its boundaries.

Do perceived social neighborhood factors explain the association between neighborhood age composition and mental health among Dutch older adults?

Background In the light of urbanization and aging, a crucially relevant policy question is how to shape neighborhoods to foster healthy aging. An important debate is whether older adults should group in neighborhoods, or whether a more mixed neighborhood age composition is more beneficial to health and well-being. We therefore assessed the association between neighborhood age structure and mental health and the mediating role of individual perceptions of neighborhood social factors. Methods We conducted multivariable linear regression models and causal mediation analyses in 1255 older adults of the Dutch Globe study. The neighborhood age structure was measured in 2011 as the homogeneity of the age composition (using the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, range from 0 to 100, a higher score indicating more homogeneity) and the percentage of specific age groups in a neighborhood. Mental health was measured in 2014 by the Mental Health Inventory-5 score (range 0 to 100, a higher score indicating better mental health). Potential mediators were assessed in 2011 and included perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion, feeling at home in a neighborhood, and social participation. Results A more homogeneous age composition (not specified for age) and a higher percentage of children living in a neighborhood were associated with better mental health, the other age categories were not. Social cohesion, feeling at home and social participation did not mediate the associations. Conclusions The neighborhood age composition may be an interesting but currently insufficiently understood entry point for policies to improve older adult’s mental health status.

‘Knowing me, knowing you’: an exploration of the views and experiences of nursing home residents and staff on their nursing home as ‘home’

The overall aim of this grounded theory study was to explore the context of a nursing home as ‘home’ from the perspective of residents and staff. Sixteen focus group interviews were used to collect qualitative data from nursing home residents (N = 48) and staff (N = 44). Five distinct categories captured the views and experiences of participating residents and staff. These were: (a) Starting off on the right foot, ‘First impressions can be the lasting ones; (b) Making new and maintaining existing connections, ‘There is great unity between staff and residents’; (c) The nursing home as home, ‘It's a bit like home from home for me’; (d) Intuitive knowing, ‘I don't even have to speak, she just knows’; and (e) Feeling at home in a regulated environment, ‘It takes the home away from nursing home’. Together these five categories formed the basis of the core category ‘Knowing me, knowing you’, which captures the experiences of participants who repeatedly highlighted the importance of relationships and feelings of mutuality and respect between and among staff and residents as central to feeling at home in a nursing home. The reciprocity and mutuality associated with the core category, ‘Knowing me, knowing you’, was at times challenged by staff shortages, time constraints, and conflicting priorities associated with the co-existence of a regulated and homely environment.

The Sense of Belonging to the Country: Integrative Relationships and Spatiotemporal Commitment

The satisfaction of the need to belong reflects in the sense of being an integrative part of the group or social system. There is some lack of empirical evidence for the structure of this sense at the macro level. This study assessed a two-dimensional model of the sense of belonging to the country, which included relational and spatiotemporal components. Participants were 539 university students from 18 to 50 (74% females). Questions regarding involvement, perceived acceptance, sense of commonality, and feeling at home represented the relational component of the sense of belonging. Four temporal categories—the recent past, present, and the near and distant future—were included in the assessment of its spatiotemporal component. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed an acceptable fit of the two-factor model. Its convergent validity was demonstrated by the association with an explicit single-item measure of belonging. The predictive effect of the spatiotemporal component emphasized the importance of continuity of belonging in considering emigration. In sum, the results confirmed the complexity of the sense of belonging to the country and the interconnectedness of integrative relationships and spatiotemporal commitment and revealed functional differences between them.

at home” for people with dementia in care environments.

This review summarises the challenges of applying evidence that built environment factors contribute to people with dementia feeling at home in long-term care institutions. Eighteen reviewed publications are classified into research-focused and practice-focused study. Research-focused studies from scientific epistemology focus on physical environment aspects that influence residents feeling at home in the care institution. Design-focused studies develop specific design strategies based on evidence from research-focused studies. However, there are limitations in transforming research evidence into design practice due to a mismatched knowledge foundation. Future research should consider standing on design epistemology to gain new insights which reflect built environment contributions to the sense of home for people with dementia living in care institutions by Research through Design approach.

Feeling at home: Sound, affect and domesticity on radio soap operas

This article introduces the concept of ‘the everyday implausible’, asserting that, between 1930 and 1960, US radio serial aesthetics produced a tug-of-war between the familiar and the unfamiliar that was simultaneously radical and reactionary. This aesthetic created a space for the listener to place new versions of herself within the narrative, inviting the imagined woman-at-home to re-envisioning the possibilities of reality. However, re-envisioning reality produced its own set of limitations. The sonic features of the radio serial soundscape created imaginary spaces within the home, but these imaginary spaces were – as often as not – also homes, making the potential of escape wholly illusory. In giving attention to the specific aesthetic features of these programmes, this article interrogates the meaningful work produced by a sparse soundscape, alongside an emphasis on domesticity and emotional conversation.