What is known about this topic• Gender is a neglected dimension in public discourse about dementia.• Gender is a key factor structuring the lives of those living with dementia.• There are gender differences in the care-giving experience. What this paper adds• A critical review of the research literature on gender differences in dementia care from a feminist citizenship perspective.• Insights into the gaps in the research literature.• Recommendations as to how policy makers can incorporate gender into national plans. AbstractGender is a neglected dimension in public discourse related to people with dementia. Those living with this condition are typically portrayed in policies and strategies in gender neutral terms as 'people with dementia' and 'family carers' as if gender does not matter, when clearly it does. The purpose of this scoping review was to take stock of knowledge about gender differences in relation to dementia care to inform policy and future research. The work is grounded in a feminist perspective to citizenship, as this provide a lens with which to expose and examine gendered assumptions within dementia studies. A search of four databases, including CINAHL, Web of Science, Medline and Cochrane was conducted using systematic techniques between May and July 2014. A repeat search was conducted in February 2015. We found a significant amount of valuable research concerned with gender differences in relation to dementia care published from 1990 to 2014; the majority of which lacks a feminist citizenship perspective. Moreover, a disproportionate number of studies focused solely on caregivers rather than citizens with dementia. As such, questions about gender equality are not being raised and the voices of men and women with dementia are silent. Thus we argue for increased gender-sensitivity in policy making and recommend that social scientists inject a feminist citizenship perspective into their work.

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The present study explores how increased managerial tasks affect nursing leadership in Norwegian nursing homes. Responding to New Public Management reforms, increased managerial tasks have been implemented by Norwegian central government into public nursing homes. Even though nursing leadership plays a key role in implementing managerial tasks, it is still unclear how nurses describe the influence of increased managerial tasks in nursing leadership. This was a qualitative study, including 100 hours of observations and 18 semi-structured interviews of nurses holding various positions in three public nursing homes. Thematic analysis was used in analysing data. Three changes were identified in the exercise of nursing leadership: (1) leading daily care from a distance; (2) lack of support in problem-solving; and (3) difficulties in adopting new managerial language. The study demonstrates that managers take on a more administrative role that, in turn, weakens their ability to supervise and motivate nurses in daily care. Lack of a reciprocal relationship between managers and nurses in goal achievement has significantly weakened nursing leadership in nursing homes. The study contributes knowledge on how nursing leadership weakens as a response to changes in nurses’ roles with increased managerial tasks.

New information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer great promise for the organisation of healthcare. Despite difficulties in implementation, commitment to the use of ICT in healthcare policy remains strong. Using examples from Norway, this article argues that this has set in motion changes beyond concerns about implementation and resistance, tied to an emergent mode of policy delivery dependent on private sector contractors and ICT experts working inside healthcare bureaucracies. We explore the consequences of this, as new centres of knowledge driven by distinctive and often conflicting rationalities come to shape the policy outcomes of strategic importance in healthcare.