Place attachment among older adults living in northern remote communities in Canada

Place attachment refers to the experience of emotional and cognitive ties to the physical environment. Among older adults, place attachment may be experienced and represented as a sense of insideness that consists of three dimensions: physical insideness, social insideness, and autobiographical insideness (Rowles, 1990). The study employed a qualitative research method to examine the dimensions of place attachment among older adults living on the Queen Charlotte Islands, a northern remote setting in British Columbia. Overall, aspects of the physical and social environment, rural lifestyle, and time in place are salient to the development and reinforcement of place-based ties. Findings from the study have relevance for health and housing policy for older rural populations in reducing potential trauma from relocation, planning and development of appropriate housing options and improving service delivery for new and long-term residents.