Researchers examined how older adults experience the transition from community living to residential care, then translated those accounts into a research-based theatrical production to convey them to practitioners, families, and residents. Relocation emerged as a pivotal event that can either preserve personal agency or erode it, with direct consequences for emotional well-being, physical health, and safety.
Key Points
- Relocation either strengthens or erodes older adults' sense of agency
- Transition experiences affect emotional well-being, physical health, and safety
- Live theatre used to translate qualitative findings into practice
Longevity Analysis
Late-life housing transitions are an underexamined determinant of healthspan, imposing a sustained load on stress regulation and emotional equilibrium at an age when recovery capacity is already narrowing. Preserving decision-making authority during a move removes one of the more modifiable sources of chronic strain in later life, and the deliberate use of narrative performance to carry these findings into clinical and family settings addresses the persistent gap between what the evidence shows and what actually changes in practice.
Original published by SAGE Research on Aging, by Pamela B. Teaster, Elizabeth Carlisle Shealy1Center for Gerontology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.