Choice, needs or equality? Discursive struggles about defining home care for older people in Sweden

Peterson, Elin; Brodin, Helene

doi:10.1017/s0144686x21000131

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…A smaller proportion of PlwD receive more intensive care in their homes and about 35% of them even do not have a specific dementia diagnosis. Concurrently, the services of homecare have been changed from domestic tasks (e.g., cleaning) to more personal care and nursing components (Peterson & Brodin, 2021). These changes resulted from national policy reforms mostly depending on political agenda.…”

Section: Research On Eldercare For People With Dementia In Swedenmentioning

confidence: 99%

People living with dementia using eldercare in Sweden

Rahman

2023

Linköping Studies in Arts and Sciences

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Linkoping studies in arts and sciences No. 856 At the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Linköping university, research and doctoral studies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organized in interdisciplinary research, environments, and doctoral studies, mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköping Studies in Arts and Sciences. This thesis comes from the Division Ageing and Social Change at the Department of Culture and Society.

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Section: Research On Eldercare For People With Dementia In Swedenmentioning

confidence: 99%

People living with dementia using eldercare in Sweden

Rahman

2023

Linköping Studies in Arts and Sciences

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“…Home care is difficult to define precisely (Contandriopoulos et al, 2022;Peterson and Brodin, 2022) but is generally designed to assist individuals with functional or cognitive impairments to allow them to live for as long as possible in their own homes. This can include a vast array of specialised medical and supportive non-medical care and services.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ageing in place with non-medical home support services need not translate into dependence

Kuryk,

Funk,

Warner

et al. 2023

Ageing and Society

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Older adults who age at home independently are often celebrated as having anticipated and planned for their care needs in the later stages of life, whereas those who receive assistance from home support services are often stigmatised as dependent and characterised as a ‘drain on the system’. However, this thematic analysis of interview data from 12 home care clients in two Canadian provinces offers evidence that counters the assumption that home care clients are passive recipients of care. Extending Corbin and Strauss' theorisation of how individuals manage chronic conditions alongside Dorothy Smiths' conception of work, we explore how home care clients ‘work’ to receive care as they age in place. Specifically, home care clients not only engage in daily life work, illness work and biographical work, but also advocate for themselves and their workers, co-ordinate and negotiate with members of their caring convoys and networks, and adapt in various ways to navigate personal, relational, structural and policy-level challenges. We suggest that work done by older adults who are ageing in place be addressed, acknowledged and incorporated into care planning and operational policy development to challenge both the stigma of dependency and neoliberal narratives of self-sufficiency.

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“…In this way, Kittay (2001) argued that liberalism invokes a notion of political participation, dependent on the conception of the person as independent, rational and capable of selfsufficiency. This can be seen in the Swedish emphasis on choice in eldercare linking freedom of choice to individual self-determination (Peterson & Brodin, 2022). Kittay (2001) argued that being a person has little to do with rationality and everything to do with relationships.…”

Section: Striving For Active and Independent Ageingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpacking the Welfare Technology Solution Discourse: An analysis of society’s perceptions of formal and informal care of older people

Nilsson¹

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The overarching aim of this thesis is to examine how the welfare technology solution discourse can provide insights into society’s views of formal and informal care for older people. The thesis employs a qualitative inductive design based on social constructionism and discourse analysis. The studies illuminated the welfare technology solution discourse from the angle of international research (Study I), Swedish local policy (Study II), local politicians (Study III) and older adults represented by pensioners’ organisations (Study IV). The temporal demarcations were from 2013-2022. The studies made use of the following research methods: scoping review (I), poststructural policy analysis (II), poststructural interview analysis (III) and focus group interviews (IV). The findings were derived from narrative descriptions and interpretations of the empirical data supported by previous empirical, theoretical and grey literature in the field. The findings highlighted that the welfare technology solution discourse focused on prevention in order to keep older people active and independent and thereby avoid further increases in demands for formal care. Health was positioned as a means to achieve that goal and as an individual responsibility for the older person her/himself. Passive remote monitoring, gaming and digital leisure activities were considered to be part of “good” care, while participation and inclusion were downplayed. Informal carers were positioned as part of the older person’s social sphere, a position that ignores the help, support and/or care they provide to their elder family member or friend on a weekly or even daily basis. The discourse did not include any welfare technology to support or facilitate participation by informal carers. The reviewed empirical literature (I) and policy documents (II) did not take up the issue of health inequalities among older people and their informal carers to any great extent. The pensioners’ organisations viewed the discourse with concern, cautioning about an increased gap between those digitally included and those excluded in what they perceived as a “harsh and impersonal society”. They positioned informal carers as crucial for the older person’s security and wellbeing. The thesis challenges the conceptualisation of health in old age as an individual enterprise and argues that interventions using welfare technology for older people need to be targeted towards participation and facilitate reciprocal relationships between all parties involved. Further, informal care needs to be further lifted on the political agenda to illuminate informal carers’ role in the provision of informal care of older people within the modern welfare state in Sweden.

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Choice, needs or equality? Discursive struggles about defining home care for older people in Sweden

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

People living with dementia using eldercare in Sweden

People living with dementia using eldercare in Sweden

Ageing in place with non-medical home support services need not translate into dependence

Unpacking the Welfare Technology Solution Discourse: An analysis of society’s perceptions of formal and informal care of older people

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