Philbrick, Jessica2025-08-272025-08-272025https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/73436People living with ME/CFS often spend most of their time at home, either as a preventative measure to protect their limited energy levels, or due to symptom severity where they cannot leave the house. Despite varied experiences of being homebound, little investigation has been done into the lived experiences of how the home supports their ME/CFS management. This project utilised the therapeutic landscapes framework to explore the built, natural, social, and symbolic elements of the home for people with ME/CFS. The aim was to see how participants made their home work synergistically to foster a therapeutic environment. Photo elicitation semi-structured interview were used to gain experiential insight into how they adapted and experienced their homes as therapeutic in relation to their ME/CFS management. Five Aotearoa based participants with ME/CFS took part. The findings mapped onto the four therapeutic landscapes domains as: sectioning the home, simplifying the environment, symbolic and practical role of nature, and enriching their world. Their contributions created rich insight into how their homes are symptom responsive, provides places of both rest and activity, enriches their lives, encourages participation in hobbies, is a place of safety and comfort, and is an environment which works for them and not against them. Participant contributions were additionally illustrated through researcher-made response paintings as a means of representing experiences beyond words. This project contributes to knowledge on therapeutic landscape literature alongside valuable insight into the lives of people with ME/CFS.enThe authorTherapeutic LandscapesMyalgic EncephalomyelitisChronic Fatigue SyndromeHomeboundChronic IllnessResearcher Response PaintingsLived ExperienceThesis520304 Health psychology