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The physical, symbolic and experiential aspects of receiving long-term care are examined in this paper using Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and field. We draw on data from an ethnographic study of home care in 16 homes in urban, rural and remote locations in Ontario, Canada. Across all cases, data about domestic and caregiving routines were gathered through observation, interviews with clients and/or the primary family caregiver, interviews with service providers and videotaped tours of the home. Based on the analysis of these data, we argue that a transposition of logics and practices occurred when the domestic and health care fields were superimposed within the spaces of the home. Although all of the care recipients and their family caregivers indicated a strong preference for home care over institutional care, their experiences and practices within their homes were disrupted and reconfigured by the insertion of logics emanating from the healthcare field. These changes were manifested in three main themes: the politics of aesthetics; the maintenance of order and cleanliness; and transcending the limitations of the home. In each of these dimensions, it became apparent that care recipients engaged in improvisatory social practices that reflected their ambiguous and changing habitus or social location. The material spaces of their homes signified, or prompted, altered or changing social placement.

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The growth and sustainability of the nursing profession depends on the ability to recruit and retain the upcoming generation of professionals. Understanding the career choice experiences and professional expectations of Millennial nurses (born 1980 or after) is a critical component of recruitment and retention strategies. This study utilized Polkinghorne's interpretive, narrative approach to understand how Millennial nurses explain, account for and make sense of their choice of nursing as a career. The positioning of nursing as a virtuous choice was both temporally and contextually influenced. The decision to enter the profession was initially emplotted around a traditional understanding of nursing as a virtuous profession: altruistic, noble, caring and compassionate. The centricity of virtues depicts one-dimensional understanding of the nursing profession that alone could prove dissatisfying to a generation of professionals who have many career choices available to them. The narratives reveal how participants' perceptions and expectations remain influenced by a stereotypical understanding of nursing, an image that remains prevalent in society and which holds implications for the future recruitment, socialization and retention strategies for upcoming and future generations of nurses.

Factors reducing participation in programmes are varied but amenable to intervention. Participation should be viewed as a 'consumer behaviour' and interventions should mobilize family support, promote 'patient friendly' scheduling, and actively harness the social, identity-related, and experiential aspects of participation.

The greatest increases in patient referral to programs could be achieved by allowing referral from non-physicians or alternatively, automatic referral to a choice of hospital or home-based programs. All referring health professionals should receive educational outreach visits or workshops around the ethical and clinical aspects of programs.

This analysis enhanced understanding of how nurses are portrayed in the media, but it indicated the significance of quality of work life and issues about work-home life. Some descriptions of the care and caring of nurses have made nursing seem like an important and influential profession to potential applicants who might previously have dismissed nursing as a career.