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Attachment to Personal Possessions:
Author(s) -
Boschetti Margaret A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of interior design
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.229
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1939-1668
pISSN - 1071-7641
DOI - 10.1111/j.1939-1668.1995.tb00203.x
Subject(s) - psychology , psychology of self , social psychology , identity (music) , interpretative phenomenological analysis , qualitative research , personal identity , older people , exploratory research , phenomenon , self , sociology , gerontology , aesthetics , medicine , epistemology , social science , philosophy
OBJECTIVE: An exploratory study was undertaken to examine the role of personal possessions in older people's attachment to place. RESEARCH DESIGN: A qualitative research strategy was selected to gather descriptive data and to capture meanings of personal experience (Rowles and Reinharz, 1988). Over a ten‐month period, multiple, in‐depth interviews were conducted with a small sample of volunteer subjects in their homes. ANALYSIS: A phenomenological method of analysis based on procedures outlined by Giorgi (1985) was followed. KEY FINDINGS: A complex pattern of attachment to possessions was revealed through discovery of two interpretive themes, connection/extension and continuity/discontinuity, that provide deeper understanding of the person‐place phenomenon as experienced by the older person. CONCLUSION: The study validates and extends other studies showing relationships between personal possessions and identity of older people. Attachment of a sense of self to micro‐elements of the physical environment has crucial implications for place‐making in the older person's residential setting.