Co‐Design and Testing the Feeling at Home Checklist—A Novel Tool for Use by People With Learning Disabilities

Background ‘Feeling at home’ is a subjective and relational experience shaped by material environments, personal histories and everyday practices. In social care, homely environments are associated with improved individual outcomes. However, research has largely focused on externally defined indicators of homeliness, with limited attention to residents' individual perspectives. Methods We describe the development of an accessible self‐report checklist informed by findings from an exploratory photovoice study about ‘feeling at home’ with people with learning disabilities living in staffed shared housing. Key themes from the study were translated into user‐friendly items through a Co‐Design process, and we tested the checklist with 27 residents. Findings The resulting checklist enables people with learning disabilities to communicate their experiences of home across domains such as comfort, belonging, relationships and control over their environment. It provides a flexible tool to support dialogue with service providers about what is working well and what may need to change. Staff assistance to complete the checklist was common despite the use of an Easy Read format. Conclusions The checklist addresses a gap in current research and practice by foregrounding residents' subjective experiences of feeling at home. It has potential to support more person‐centred evaluation and improvement of residential services.