"Being farmhand makes all the difference". Adult day care on farms in Norway.

Background: Many farms in Norway offer adult day care to home-dwelling persons with cognitive disorders and dementias (pwD). Farms are commissioned to deliver safe, meaningful and social activities. This study inquire into... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
Many farms in Norway offer adult day care to home-dwelling persons with cognitive disorders and dementias (pwD). Farms are commissioned to deliver safe, meaningful and social activities. This study inquire into pwD`s experiences with farm-based day care, and how the context and activities are interrelated.
Method:
The study has a participatory design with fieldwork on 10 farms. Data are produced through formal and informal interviews, mini focus groups, observation and participation in activities. Field notes and recorded speech are converted to text, and subjected to a critical hermeneutical interpretation.
Results:
The evaluation of day care on farms is linked to whether pwD take part in the ordinary farm work, and to which extent they can experience themselves as farmhands/maids, in contrasts to being guests. The identity as a farmhand is created by a logical structure of the day, wearing overalls, using tools, traditional cooking and intelligible work division. The role as farmhand/maid is contrasted to the guest role: drinking coffee or reading papers.
Conclusion:
The study contribute to the scarce body of knowledge on farm based day care for pwD, and shows how clothing, work organisation and place; farm-bound activities, makes for satisfied participants. Further studies are needed to understand if/how a guest role at a farm, and non-farm-bound activities, might add value to adult day care for pwD.
Application to Practice:
This knowledge can contribute to further development of adult day care on farms by using the context specific possibilities, whether the activities are farm-bound or not.