How does an ageing policy translate into professional practices? An analysis of kitchen table conversations in the Netherlands

Abstract

In the context of the transformation of welfare states into participatory societies, care and welfare professionals are assigned new roles. In the Netherlands, they are tasked with activating and empowering older adults, as well as negotiating customised care. For this purpose, policymakers introduced the kitchen table conversation as a social technology to assess needs and abilities in an informal setting, at home or in public places. The notion of a kitchen table refers to the idea that an informal sphere may increase the professionals' ability to attune to the needs and abilities of citizens. This paper discusses findings of a qualitative study, in which ethnographic methods were used to examine kitchen table conversations with older adults in practice. Our study demonstrates that, although the tool aims to increase attunement between professionals and citizens, it actually creates tensions between policy, professionals and citizens. Professionals struggle with the issue of how other policy expectationssuch as cutting the costs of careresonate in the conversations, a phenomenon which becomes even more awkward in the private domain of older adults. In practice, however, rather than mediating participative citizens, kitchen table conversations mainly generate ambiguity in relationships between professionals and citizens. SAMENVATTINGIn de context van de transformatie van verzorgingsstaten naar participatiesamenlevingen krijgen zorg-en welzijnsprofessionals nieuwe rollen toebedeeld. In Nederland hebben zij de taak gekregen om ouderen te activeren en te 'empoweren', terwijl zij tegelijkertijd zorg-opmaat onderhandelen. Om dit doel te kunnen bereiken introduceerden

Public encounters and the role of citizens' impression management

“…Our findings reveal that the policy rhetoric of open dialogue and shared decision-making creates ambiguity for citizens in anticipation of public encounters that still need to take place. In line with findings of Van Hees et al (2020), our analysis of Twitter messages and interviews shows that citizens do not exactly know what to expect and especially experience kitchen table conversations as a black box. To deal with this ambiguity, some citizens rehearse their presentation of self by conducting role plays with the help of citizen support groups 'backstage'.…”

Co-creating local socioeconomic pathways for achieving the sustainable development goals

“…We conducted a facilitated Kitchen Table Discussion (van Hees et al 2020 ) with community experts representing different stakeholder groups to discover what they considered important for the future of the community. A community-based collaborator identified eight people of diverse experiences to participate (for example, the group included a farmer, a local tourism business operator, a school administrator, and a government employee; SI 1.5).…”

Botsende Waarden in Het Keukentafelgesprek

“…Het eerste onderdeel van het onderzoeksproject bestond uit een verkennende literatuurstudie naar de invulling en de toepassing van zowel de dominante waarde van zelfredzaamheid als die van andere waarden die in de praktijk een rol spelen in het keukentafelgesprek. Hiervoor zijn publicaties bestudeerd die gebaseerd zijn op empirisch onderzoek naar keukentafelgesprekken (Bredewold et al, 2018;Feijten et al, 2017;Kromhout et al, 2018;Van Eijkel et al, 2019;Van Hees, 2017;Van Hees, Horstman, Jansen, & Ruwaard, 2018). De studie van Bredewold et al In het vervolg van het artikel verkennen we allereerst de dominante waarde van zelfredzaamheid.…”

“…Een gespreksvoerder die de keuzevrijheid van cliënten serieus neemt, kan deze weerstand niet zomaar negeren. keukentafelgesprek vaak weinig ruimte voor dialoog, bijvoorbeeld doordat er een vragenlijst wordt afgewerkt en omdat de gespreksvoerder weinig ruimte heeft af te wijken van de beleidsinstructies (Bredewold et al, 2018;Van Hees, 2017, Van Hees et al, 2018.…”