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Between hospital and home: Hospital-adjacent neighborhood as a third therapeutic place for China's long-distance patients

Author

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  • Yan, Xiang
  • Song, Chao
  • Feng, Tian

Abstract

Many long-distance patients in China temporarily stay in neighborhoods near high-quality hospitals during healthcare seeking. Yet, the therapeutic role of these hospital-adjacent neighborhoods remains underexplored. Drawing on the “enabling place” framework, this study conceptualizes such neighborhoods as “third therapeutic places” within the hospital-home continuum, where resources from both hospital and home settings are mobilized and reworked to support patients’ wellbeing. Based on a two-year study of the Huaxiba neighborhood in Chengdu, three mechanisms through which the neighborhood foster therapeutic functions were identified: (1) integrating material resources by mobilizing domestic materialities and leveraging hospital-stimulated clustering of patient services, (2) activating social resources through family reconnections and new social bonds, and (3) generating affective resources by shielding from stigma and alleviating medical control. This study enriches the relational approach to therapeutic landscapes by emphasizing inter-place “actor-networks” in generating enabling resources and creating new therapeutic places.

Suggested Citation

  • Yan, Xiang & Song, Chao & Feng, Tian, 2026. "Between hospital and home: Hospital-adjacent neighborhood as a third therapeutic place for China's long-distance patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 396(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:396:y:2026:i:c:s0277953626002054
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.119129
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