Institutional context: What elements shape how community occupational therapists think about their clients’ care?

Carrier, Annie; Freeman, Andrew; Desrosiers, Johanne; Levasseur, Mélanie

doi:10.1111/hsc.12954

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Thus, institutional ethnographers talk to secondary informants, they collect the documents used or discussed by the informants and map the work, the texts and the people involved. As done by other institutional ethnographies [e.g., 44 – 48 ], this article focuses only on results from the first level of analysis [ 49 ]. Indeed, second level analysis will be published elsewhere.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, our study focuses on the provision of home care to older adults within the Support Programme for the Autonomy of Seniors (SAPA; Soutien à l’autonomie des personnes âgées ). This province-wide initiative operates under the regulatory framework of “At home: The first choice - Home support policy” ( Chez soi le premier choix: la politique de soutien à domicile ) [ 51 ] and the Act respecting health and social services ( Loi sur les services de santé et les services sociaux ) [ 52 ], which are some of the boss texts in Quebec home care [ 44 , 53 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These maps captured the actions, accompanying words used by case managers, involved individuals, utilised texts and the tensions. As in other institutional ethnographies in home care [e.g., 27 , 44 , 57 ], prior to starting our inquiry, we were aware that case managers encountered tensions in their work. However, we were not aware of what those tensions were.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tensions experienced by case managers working in home care for older adults in Quebec: first level analysis of an institutional ethnography

Ethier,

Dubois,

Savaria

et al. 2024

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Case managers play a vital role in integrating the necessary services to optimise health-related goals and outcomes. Studies suggest that in home care, case managers encounter tensions in their day-to-day work, that is, disjuncture between what they should do, in theory, and what they actually do, in practice. However, direct exploration of these tensions is lacking. As such, this study aimed to describe the tensions encountered by case managers in public home care for older adults in Quebec and their influence on day-to-day work. Methods An institutional ethnography was conducted through observations of work, interviews and a survey with case managers working in home care in Quebec. Data were analysed using institutional ethnography first-level analysis procedures. This included mapping the work sequences as well as identifying the tensions experienced by case managers through the words they used. Results Three main tensions were identified. First, case managers perceive that, despite working to return hospitalised older adults at home safely, their work also aims to help free up hospital beds. Thus, they often find themselves needing to respond quickly to hospital-related inquiries or expedite requests for home care services. Second, they are supposed to delegate the care to “partners” (e.g., private organisations). However, they feel that they are in effect managing the quality of the services provided by the “partners.” Consequently, they go to great lengths to ensure that good care will be provided. Finally, they must choose between meeting organisational requirements (e.g., reporting statistics about the work, documenting information in the older adults’ file, doing mandatory assessments) and spending time providing direct care. This often leads to prioritising direct care provision over administrative tasks, resulting in minimal reporting of essential information. Conclusion The results are discussed using the three lenses of professional practice context analyses (i.e., accountability, ethics, and professional-as-worker) to formulate recommendations for practice and research. They suggest that, despite their important role, case managers have limited power in home care (e.g., with partners, with the hospital).

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%