G-EAT Case Study

Exploring residents with dementia's view of their built environment

The project is designed as a case study in which nursing homes (n=2) represent the overall case and their individual residential units represent the embedded cases. Different data serve as units of analysis, which are triangulated in the course of the evaluation. The focus is on walking interviews to capture the direct perspective of residents with dementia. The walking interview offers the interviewee the opportunity to contribute to the survey in a self-determined way by determining the 'walking route' in the housing unit. In addition, the built environment is systematically assessed with the G-EAT and supplemented by photo documentation and mapping of the floor plans of the residential units and common areas throughout the nursing home. Organisational and conceptual data (nursing mission statement, range of nursing services) were also used to complete the understanding of the case. The evaluation of the walking interviews was carried out as a sub-project and was based on a phenomenological approach.