A Study of the Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of Elderly Residents in Long-Term Care Facilities. Do Residents’ Voices Contribute to the Effective Exercise of Their Rights?

Assessing the extent of resident participation in nursing homes. The primary objective of this research is to determine the extent to which residents’ voices are heard. The aim is both to verify the effectiveness of the right to participation in these living environments and to determine whether taking residents’ voices into account promotes respect for other fundamental rights.

Measuring the degree to which this right is respected. Furthermore, based on the data collected through the survey, the research aims, on the one hand, to assess the extent to which the various stakeholders working with nursing home residents are aware of the legal provisions designed to guarantee their fundamental rights regarding access to care, privacy, the right to vote, and freedom of movement; and, second, to examine current practices to determine whether they effectively ensure respect for all of these rights.

Measuring inequalities. While the survey is deliberately not limited to legally protected residents (as this would risk not reaching a sufficient number of respondents), these residents will nevertheless receive special attention as part of a participatory approach. This analysis will help determine whether and to what extent this specific legal status affects the respect for fundamental rights. Indeed, the protective measure could be a source of inequality in terms of access to rights. Beyond this criterion, other forms of vulnerability that impact the effective enjoyment of rights must be taken into account, such as gender, ethnicity, social background, place of residence, and income… Aging, in fact, represents uncharted territory for studying access to rights in terms of discrimination, intersectionality, and inequalities in life trajectories, as the inequalities observed throughout one’s life often resurface at this stage, which is frequently characterized by particular vulnerability. This research could therefore also help shed light on this issue.