| Summary: | Care facilities for elders have been guided by a medical model of care, with a focus on
physical conditions. The Eden Alternative (EA) philosophy is being introduced in many
facilities in attempt to move beyond the medical model and address psychosocial needs.
However, little research exists to demonstrate its impact on the day-to-day lives of the
residents living in these facilities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand
how the EA has influenced the lives of elders in facilities. Data was generated through
personal interviews with 9 participants from two facilities that are committed to adopting the
philosophy of care. Three dominant ideas emerged from the data in response to the research
question. First, the philosophy did influence participants' lives in three meaningful ways:
(1) through opportunities for personal choice (2) through opportunities to maintain personal
identity and (3) through opportunities for caring. However, the second idea that emerged
related to the extent to which the philosophy had infiltrated the day-to-day experience of
living in a care facility. Specifically, according to participants' stories, the philosophy's goal
of creating a sense of home or community was not yet realized. Finally, the third major idea
that emerged was that the presence of two competing societal discourses that both supported
and/or competed with the implementation of the Eden Alternative philosophy: life is what
you make it and I am old and useless. Recommendations for practice highlight the
importance of learning elders' life stories but also recognize that health professionals need to
raise questions about our current societal discourses of aging and long-term care and can use
the Eden Alternative philosophy to begin to reconstruct discourses that recognize elders as
valuable, contributors to our society. === Arts, Faculty of === Social Work, School of === Graduate
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