The immediate living environment : impressions of house, home, and social functioning / E.H. Ryke

Abstract

The overarching purpose of this address is to revisit the immediate living environment from a person-in-environment social work perspective and approach. My thesis is that without a solid and nuanced conceptual framework to guide home environment assessment, intervention and evaluation, the scope and impact on people's social functioning in this environment will go unnoticed and remain invisible. An opportunity is thus lost to form a truly holistic impression of what the home environment contributes to the social (un)wellbeing of members of vulnerable groups. I close the presentation by discussing nuances and expansions to the social niche I proposed in a study as a theoretical model for appraising people's immediate environment.