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The authors used a mixed methods approach to examine if the reputation of a housing area has bearing on residential wellbeing and social trust in three pairs of socioeconomically contrasting neighborhoods in a Swedish urban municipality. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were performed to examine associations between area reputation and residential wellbeing and social trust, controlling for the random effect of neighborhood and individual level sociodemographic factors. Qualitative data were analyzed to identify mechanisms of how neighborhood reputations were established. The housing area reputation was found to be strongly associated with wellbeing and social trust. The area reputation also seemed to be a determinant of position in the local social structure; residents were found to position themselves in a rank order. The results suggest that area reputation is an important and probably underestimated dimension in the development of residential wellbeing and social trust in housing. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

'Dementia-friendly communities' herald a shift toward the neighbourhood as a locus for the care and support of people with dementia, sparking growing interest in the geographies of dementia care and raising questions over the shifting spatial and social experience of the condition. Existing research claims that many people with dementia experience a 'shrinking world' whereby the boundaries to their social and physical worlds gradually constrict over time, leading to a loss of control and independence. This paper reports a five-year, international study that investigated the neighbourhood experience of people with dementia and those who care for and support them. We interrogate the notion of a shrinking world and in so doing highlight an absence of attention paid to the agency and actions of people with dementia themselves. The paper draws together a socio-relational and embodied-material approach to question the adequacy of the shrinking world concept as an explanatory framework and to challenge reliance within policy and practice upon notions of place as fixed or stable. We argue instead for the importance of foregrounding 'lived place' and attending to social practices and the networks in which such practices evolve. Our findings have implications for policy and practice, emphasising the need to bolster the agency of people living with dementia as a route to fostering accessible and inclusive neighbourhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dementia is a great public health concern worldwide. Despite this, little is known from a health-promoting perspective about dementia in general as a public health issue, in dialog with people living with dementia, applicable at individual, group, and societal levels with regard to policies and practice. This study therefore aims to explore the experiences related to living with dementia in the local community by advancing a health-promoting perspective. Semi-structured individual and group interviews were conducted with participants (n = 22) with lived, professional, and personal experiences of dementia living in a medium-sized municipality in Sweden. Transcripts were analyzed by thematic analysis. Four themes emerged: health promotion through knowledge and public awareness, health promotion through opportunities to be active, health promotion through meaningful meeting places, and health promotion through improvements in the welfare system. We found that more knowledge and public awareness about dementia are needed to advance a health-promoting perspective and increase the prominence of dementia as a public health issue. Further research and policy need to focus more on how professionals in dementia care practice could be involved in promoting health and well-being for people with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent of social isolation experienced by people living with dementia who reside in the community has been well acknowledged, yet little is known about how people living alone with dementia maintain neighbourhood-based connections. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of people with dementia who live alone, focusing upon how they establish social networks and relationships in a neighbourhood context, and how they are supported to maintain this social context within everyday life. Multiple data collection methods were used including, semi-structured interviews, walking interviews, guided home tours and social network mapping, which were conducted with 14 community-dwelling people living alone with dementia (11 women and three men) situated across the three international study sites in England, Scotland and Sweden. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed four main themes: (a) making the effort to stay connected; (b) befriending by organisations and facilitated friendships; (c) the quiet neighbourhood atmosphere; and (d) changing social connections. The analysis suggests that people with dementia who live alone were active agents who took control to find and maintain relationships and social networks in the neighbourhood. Our findings indicate the need to raise awareness about this specific group in both policy and practice, and to find creative ways to help people connect through everyday activities and by spontaneous encounters in the neighbourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Crime in a neighbourhood has been recognized as a key stressor in the residential environment. Fear of crime is related to risk assessment, which depends on the concentration of objective risk in time and space, and on the presence of subjective perceived early signs of imminent hazard. The aim of the study was to examine environmental, socio-demographic, and personal correlates of safety-related concerns at the local level in urban communities. The specific aim was to investigate such correlates in contiguous neighbourhoods in a Swedish urban municipality. Methods A cross-sectional study design was used to investigate three neighbourhood settings with two pair-wise conterminous but socially contrasting areas within each setting. Crime data were retrieved from police records. Study data were collected through a postal questionnaire distributed to adult residents (n = 2476) (response rate 56%). Composite dimensions of perceived residential safety were derived through a factor analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations between high-level scores of the three safety-related dimensions and area-level crime rate, being a victim of crime, area reputation, gender, age, education, country of birth, household civil status and type of housing. Results Three composite dimensions of perceived residential safety were identified: (I) structural indicators of social disorder; (II) contact with disorderly behavior; and (III) existential insecurity. We found that area-level crime rates and individual-level variables were associated with the dimensions structural indicators of social disorder and existential insecurity, but only individual-level variables were associated with the dimension contact with disorderly behavior. Self-assessed less favorable area reputation was found to be strongly associated with all three factors. Being female accorded existential insecurity more than being a victim of crime. Conclusion We have identified environmental, socio-demographic, and personal correlates of safety-related concerns in contiguous neighbourhoods in a Swedish community. The results of this study suggest that residents' self-assessed area reputation is an important underlying mechanism of perceived safety. We also found a difference in crime rates and safety-related concerns between areas with blocks of flats compared with small-scale areas although the neighbourhoods were close geographically.

This study explores the relationships between people living with dementia and their neighbourhood as they venture out from home on a regular and often routine basis. Here, we report findings from the Swedish field site of an international 5-year project: Neighbourhoods: our people, our places. The aims of this study were to investigate the lived experience of the neighbourhood for people with dementia and through this to better understand the meaning that neighbourhood held for the participants. In this study, we focus on the walking interviews which were conducted with 14 community-dwelling people with dementia (11 men and 3 women) and were analysed using an interpretative phenomenological method. Four themes were revealed from these interviews: life narratives embedded within neighbourhood; the support of selfhood and wellbeing through movement; the neighbourhood as an immediate social context; and restorative connections to nature. These themes were distilled into the 'essence' of what neighbourhood meant for the people we interviewed: A walkable area of subjective significance and social opportunity in which to move freely and feel rejuvenated. We have found that the neighbourhood for community-dwelling people with dementia holds a sense of attachment and offers the potential for freedom of movement. Our research indicates that a dementia diagnosis doesn't necessarily reduce this freedom of movement. The implications for practice and policy are considered: future research should explore and pay closer attention to the diverse living conditions of people living with dementia, and not least the particular challenges faced by people living alone with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the study "Neighborhoods: Our People, Our Places" in relation to how people with dementia are involved in their neighborhoods. Topics include the relation of environmental support to social health, the agency of dementia patients, and the use of participatory research to enable a neighborhood-level intervention.