scholarly journals Group‐based instant messaging in Finnish residential elder care work: Taming the technology or vice versa?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Hirvonen ◽  
Mia Tammelin ◽  
Antti Hämäläinen ◽  
Sakari Taipale
Keyword(s):  
Elder Care ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Care Work

Ageing/body/sex/work – Migrant women’s narratives of intimacy and ageing in commercial sex and elder care work

Sexualities ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 136346072094459
Author(s):  
Lena Näre ◽  
Anastasia Diatlova
Keyword(s):  
Sex Workers ◽  
Elder Care ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Women's Narratives ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ageing Body

This article analyses how sex and elder-care workers negotiate intimacy and ageing in their work. We find surprising similarities between sex and care work that derive from the ways in which Eastern European migrant women are sexualised in the sites of our studies: Italy and Finland. The bodywork and intimate labour conducted by the women is defined in part by the social status of their work in society, in part by the ageing bodies upon whom the work is done, and in part by the ways in which the bodies of the workers are gendered, sexualised and racialised. The article draws on interview and participant observation data collected during two ethnographic research projects with female migrants from post-socialist countries working as eldercare workers in Italy and in sex workers in Finland.

scholarly journals FROM BEING ACTIVATED TO SELF-ORGANIZATION IN ELDER CARE: CONCEPTS OF AGING AND THEIR IMPACT ON RESIDENTS’ AGENCY

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S506-S506
Author(s):  
Irene Strasser ◽  
Ines Hopfgartner ◽  
Carmen Payer
Keyword(s):  
Elder Care ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Multiple Stressors ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Care Facility ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Daily Routines ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract In a research project together with an elder care facility in Austria, we were following a participatory approach to investigate important factors and processes to increase quality of life for residents with dementia. The aim was to better understand how we can foster participation, agency and freedom of choice within a care setting. Together with care workers, residents and relatives we were working on how to identify overall strategies and aims, as well as particular processes and procedures that allow for a higher involvement of all these groups of individuals. Doing research explicitly together with care workers we also aimed to trigger reflection of individual and organizational concepts of aging. We interviewed residents, relatives and care workers, conducted research workshops, and engaged in participant observation. In the talk the focus will be on care workers’ perspectives. We wanted to better understand the multiple stressors within daily routines in care work. Particularly, we wanted to find out more about the multifaceted processes of integrating one’s experiences into everyday care work, and integrating care work into one’s life story, to make meaning of the important work they are providing under constantly stressful working conditions. Finally, together with care workers, we developed a model for participation, that is explaining a wide range of residents’ possibilities for involvement: From activity orientation to actual participation and the realization of individually meaningful activities. What helps to initialize participation, and what we identified as obstacles in supporting residents’ autonomy will also be discussed in the talk.

scholarly journals Gender, Elder Care and Care Workers in Thai Governmental Home for the Aged

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 254-263
Author(s):  
Boontarika Narknisorn
Keyword(s):  
Older Persons ◽  
Elder Care ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Formal Care ◽  
Work Condition ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Male Care ◽  
More Care ◽  
Thai Government

Thai government discouraged formal care. Research on care workers and care work in Thai governmental homes for the aged was limited and unvoiced. This research aimed to investigate gender, elder care and care workers in Thai governmental home for the aged by exploring (1.) gender and care workers, (2.) how elder care was performed, (3.) care workers’ work condition and (4.) care workers’ work satisfaction. Qualitative research was employed to understand care workers’ perspectives. Research techniques were observation, focus group interview and in-depth interview with all care workers in one Thai governmental home for the aged and interview with key informants. Identifying themes and content analysis was applied. The results showed that there were more female than male care workers. Care work was socially constructed to women’s roles. There was an awareness to include both genders in care work, especially demanding for same sex of care workers and older persons for personal care. Since there were high numbers of older persons, care work demanded work that is more physical. Care work was not a professional work and attracted more women who were unemployed or had low level of education. Care work was linked to unpaid or low paid work. Since Thai government discouraged formal care, more care workers experienced poor work condition and dissatisfaction due to double disadvantages of under valuation of care work and formal care. There were more dissatisfied care workers who expressed poor working condition as no advancement, inadequate salary and benefits, poor coordination among departments, conflicts among coworkers, which affected personal goals, family life and health of care workers. However, satisfied care workers expressed mental and spiritual fulfillment as love, care, attachment, life meaning and morality that could overcome negative aspects of care work. Research, policy, practical implications and recommendations were to create more awareness of gender and care work that links to care workers’ work condition and satisfaction in formal care in Thailand.

scholarly journals Positive Turn in Elder-Care Workers’ Views Toward Telecare Robots

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuuli Turja ◽  
Sakari Taipale ◽  
Marketta Niemelä ◽  
Tomi Oinas
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Elder Care ◽  
Personal Values ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Standards Of Care ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
Analysis Phase ◽  
Care Robots ◽  
Care Workers

AbstractRobots have been slowly but steadily introduced to welfare sectors. Our previous observations based on a large-scale survey study on Finnish elder-care workers in 2016 showed that while robots were perceived to be useful in certain telecare tasks, using robots may also prove to be incompatible with the care workers’ personal values. The current study presents the second wave of the survey data from 2020, with the same respondents (N = 190), and shows how these views have changed for the positive, including higher expectations of telecare robotization and decreased concerns over care robots’ compatibility with personal values. In a longitudinal analysis (Phase 1), the positive change in views toward telecare robots was found to be influenced by the care robots’ higher value compatibility. In an additional cross-sectional analysis (Phase 2), focusing on the factors underlying personal values, care robots’ value compatibility was associated with social norms toward care robots, the threat of technological unemployment, and COVID-19 stress. The significance of social norms in robot acceptance came down to more universal ethical standards of care work rather than shared norms in the workplace. COVID-19 stress did not explain the temporal changes in views about robot use in care but had a role in assessments of the compatibility between personal values and care robot use. In conclusion, for care workers to see potential in care robots, the new technology must support ethical standards of care work, such as respectfulness, compassion, and trustworthiness of the nurse–patient interaction. In robotizing care work, personal values are significant predictors of the task values.

scholarly journals Care work an diffusion of innovation in Danish elder care

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luise Li Langergaard
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovation ◽  
Elder Care ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Contextual Knowledge ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
Innovation Project ◽  
Care Situation ◽  
Innovation Processes

This article explores the interplay between different types of knowledge and rationality in care work through a case study of a nursing home innovation project in a Danish municipality. The aim is to understand the implications for innovation processes and dissemination within the context of elder care. Care work, in some sense, relies on relational and contextual knowledge which may lead to challenges when innovation and best practices are to be diffused across organizations. This is especially true since diffusion often relies on codification of practices and knowledge. Caring rationality is essential to how technologies and methods are practiced in the care situation, and thus also essential for best practices and how they are disseminated. However, other types of codified and explicit rationality are equally important. The article concludes that there are several types of knowledge in play in care work practices and innovation, and it indicates that communities of practice could be key to understanding how to share and learn from best practices across organizations. 

scholarly journals The Exploitation of Caring Communities: The Elder Care Crisis in Germany

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tine Haubner
Keyword(s):  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Elder Care ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Vulnerable Population ◽  
Capitalist Society ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Population Groups ◽  
Caring Communities ◽  
Vulnerable Population Groups

Against the background of a crisis of elder care in Germany, this article examines the expansion of informal elder care work in terms of exploitation. A concept of indirect exploitation is used that takes into account the special characteristics of highly feminised elder care work and Germany’s elder care market. The article shows, through an empirical qualitative case study, that Germany’s elder care regime is maintained through the politically supported exploitation of socially vulnerable population groups in favour of lowering the costs of social reproduction in an ageing capitalist society.

scholarly journals Stories of Dependency and Power: The Value of Live-In Elder Care in Israel

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 237802311989320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiri Regev-Messalem
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Wage ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Elder Care ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Monetary Value ◽  
The Relationship

This article offers a qualitative empirical examination of the ways in which Israeli family members of elderly persons evaluate live-in elder care and translate their evaluations into monetary value. The author explores the relationship between family members’ views of appropriate wages for live-in elder care providers and their perceptions of their own power relations with their parents’ caregivers. The findings demonstrate that family members who perceive such power to be held one-sidedly, either by themselves or by their caregivers, also argue that the state’s minimum wage is appropriate for the work of caregiving. The findings also establish that family members who recognize codependence in their relationships with caregivers believe that live-in caregivers should receive a wage much higher than the minimum. Exposing the convoluted relationship between perceptions of power and perceptions of value in live-in care shifts our understanding of the possible mechanisms that shape the low monetary value assigned to care work.

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