Whose business is it anyway? Distributing responsibilities between family members and formal carers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v9i3.20842Keywords:
discursive psychology, family carers, public care services, professional care workers, responsibilityAbstract
This study reports on a discourse analysis of how responsibilities for the care of older people are defined and distributed in the interview talk of working caregivers in Finland. The analysis focuses on how the interviewees depict their encounters with professionals (e.g. social and health care workers) and the responsibilities attached to the position of a family member versus professional. The theme is examined against the backdrop of broader Finnish and European discussions about the development of welfare society, the relations between the state and individual citizens as well as discussions about older people’s care needs. Data were obtained by face-to-face interviews. In the interview talk, the roles of the professionals range from authorities and experts who ally with family members to adversaries or failing experts whose actions require involvement of the client’s family members. Being a trustworthy professional requires not only having expert knowledge and technical skills but taking overall responsibility for the well-being of the client. The findings show that family members categorize professionals as competent or as failing to fulfil their responsibilities. The central question is whether both parties have an equal opportunity to express their views and whether open communication is possible to develop professional decision-making and client interaction.
References
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Bergmann J. R. (1998) Introduction: Morality in discourse. Research on Language and Social Interaction 31 (3–4): 279–294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08351813.1998.9683594
Bernard M. and Phillips J. (2007) Working carers of older adults: What helps and what hinders in juggling work and care? Community, Work and Family 10 (2): 139–160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13668800701270075
Blustein, J. (2004) Integrating medicine and the family: Toward a coherent ethic of care. In C. Levine and T. H. Murray (eds) The Cultures of Caregiving, 127–146. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Guberman, N., Lavoie, J.-P., Pepin, J., Lauzon, S. and Montejo, M.-E. (2006) Formal service practitioners’ views of family caregivers’ responsibilities and difficulties. Canadian Journal on Aging 25 (1): 43–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cja.2006.0024
Guberman, N. and Maheu, P. (2002) Conceptions of family caregiving: Implications for professional practice. Canadian Journal on Aging 21 (1): 25–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0714980800000611
Hall, C., Sarangi, S. and Slembrouck, S. (1999) The legitimation of the client and the profession: Identities and roles in social work discourse. In C. Roberts and S. Sarangi (eds) Talk, Work and Institutional Order: Discourse in Medical, Mediation and Management Settings, 293–322. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Hall, C., Slembrouck, S. and Sarangi, S. (2006) Language Practices in Social Work: Categorisation and Accountability in Child Welfare. Abingdon: Routledge.
Hellström Muhli, U. (2010) Accounts of professional and institutional tension in the context of Swedish elderly care. Journal of Ageing Studies 24: 47–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2008.06.001
Henriksson, L. and Wrede, S. (2008) The making of medico-managerial care work culture in public home care for the elderly. In S. Wrede, L. Henriksson, H. Höst, S. Johansson and B. Dybroe (eds) Care Work in Crisis: Reclaiming the Nordic Ethos of Care, 131–152. Malmö, Sweden: Studentlitteratur.
Jolanki, O., Szebehely, M. and Kauppinen. K. (2013) Family rediscovered? Working carers of older people in Finland and Sweden. In T. Kröger and S. Yeandle (eds) Combining Paid Work and Family Care: Policies and Experiences in International Perspectives, 71–87. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
Kröger, T., Anttonen, A. and Sipilä, J. (2003) Social care in Finland: Stronger and weaker forms of universalism. In A. Anttonen, J. Baldock and J. Sipilä (eds) The Young, The Old and the State: Social Care Systems in Five Industrial Nations, 25–54. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Kuronen, T. (2007) Vanhusten kotisiivous – hoivaa vai palvelua? [Cleaning the homes of older people – care or service?]. In M. Seppänen, A. Karisto and T. Kröger (eds) Vanhuus ja sosiaalityö [Old Age and Social Work], 139–166. Jyväskylä, Finland: PS-kustannus.
Linell P. and Rommetveit, R. (1998) The many forms and facets of morality in dialogue: Epilogue for the Special Issue. Research on Language and Social Interaction 31 (3–4): 465–473. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08351813.1998.9683600
Mezey, M. (2004) Nurses and their changing relationship to family caregivers. In C. Levine and T. H. Murray (eds) The Cultures of Caregiving, 70–86. Baltimore:, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Nikander, P. (2007) Interprofessional decision making in elderly care: Morality, criteria and help allocation. In I. Paoletti (ed.) Family Caregiving for Older Disabled People: Relational and Institutional Issues, 319–332. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Olaison, A. and Cedersund, E. (2008) Home care as a family matter?: Discursive positioning, storylines and decision-making in assessment talk. Communication & Medicine 5 (2): 55–68.
Paoletti, I. (2007) The intricacy of gender, moral, relational, financial and housing issues. In I. Paoletti (ed.) Family Caregiving for Older Disabled People: Relational and Institutional Issues, 333–357. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Phillips, J. (2007) Care. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Pomerantz, A. (1986) Extreme case formulation: A way of legitimating claims. Human Studies 9: 219–229. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00148128
Potter, J. (1996) Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. London: Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446222119
Potter, J. and Wetherell, M. (1987) Discourse and Social Psychology: Beyond Attitudes and Behaviour. London: Sage.
Roberts, C. and Sarangi, S. (1999) Negotiating and legitimating roles and identities. In S. Sarangi and C. Roberts (eds) Talk, Work and Institutional Order: Discourse in Medical, Mediation and Management Settings, 227–229. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Ronch J. L. (2004) Changing institutional culture: Turning adversaries into partners. In C. Levine and T. H. Murray (eds) The Cultures of Caregiving, 155–170. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Sarangi, S. (2001) Editorial: On demarcating the space between ‘lay expertise’ and ‘expert laity’. Text 21 (1–2): 3–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/text.1.21.1-2.3
Sims-Gould, J. and Martin-Matthews, A. (2010) We share the care: Family caregivers’ experiences of their older relatives receiving home support services. Health and Social Care in the Community 18 (4): 415–423. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2010.00913.x
Soodeen, R.-A., Gregory, D. and Bond, J. B. (2007) Home care for older couples: ‘It feels like a security blanket’. Qualitative Health Research 17 (9): 1245–1255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049732307307339
Surpin, R. and Hanley, E. (2004) The culture of home care: Whose values prevail? In C. Levine and T. H. Murray (eds) The Cultures of Caregiving, 87–99. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Tedre, S. (2004) Likainen työ ja virallinen hoiva [Dirty work and formal caregiving]. In L. Henriksson and S. Wrede (eds) Hyvinvointityön ammatit [Carework Professions], 63–83. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
Vilkko, A., Muuri, A. and Finne-Soveri, H. (2010) Läheisapu iäkkään ihmisen arjessa [Older people and care received from the family and the relatives]. In M. Vaarama, P. Moisio and S. Karvonen (eds) Suomalaisten hyvinvointi 2010 [Wellbeing of the Finns 2010], 60–77. Helsinki: National Institute for Health and Welfare.
Ward-Griffin, C. and McKeever, P. (2000) Relationship between nurses and family caregivers: Partners in care? Advances in Nursing Science 22: 89–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00012272-200003000-00008
Wetherell, M. (1998) Positioning and interpretative repertoires: Conversation analysis and post-structuralism in dialogue. Discourse & Society 9 (3): 387–412. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926598009003005
Wetherell, M. and Edley, N. (1999) Negotiating hegemonic masculinity: Imaginary positions and psycho-discursive practices. Feminism and Psychology 9 (3): 335–356. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353599009003012
Wrede, S. and Henriksson, L. (2004) Kahden kerroksen väkeä: kotihoidon ammatillinen uusjako [Upstairs, downstairs: Professional re-division of home care work]. In L. Henriksson and S. Wrede (eds) Hyvinvointityön ammatit [Carework Professions], 210–234. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
Yeandle, S. and Kröger, T. (2013) Reconciling work and care for older parents, disabled children and partners: Convergent or separate paths in three welfare systems? In T. Kröger and S. Yeandle (eds) Combining Paid Work and Family Care: Policies and Experiences in International Perspectives, 219–239. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
Yeandle, S., Kröger, T. and Cass, B. (2012) Voice and choice for users and carers? Developments in patterns of care for older people in Australia, England and Finland. Journal of European Social Policy 22 (4): 432–445. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0958928712449775
Zechner, M. (2007) Puolisoitaan hoivaavien luottamus vanhuspalveluihin [Trust for old people’s care services among spousal care givers]. In M. Seppänen, A. Karisto and T. Kröger Vanhuus ja sosiaalityö [Old age and Social Work], 139–166. Jyväskylä, Finland: PS-kustannus.
Bergmann J. R. (1998) Introduction: Morality in discourse. Research on Language and Social Interaction 31 (3–4): 279–294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08351813.1998.9683594
Bernard M. and Phillips J. (2007) Working carers of older adults: What helps and what hinders in juggling work and care? Community, Work and Family 10 (2): 139–160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13668800701270075
Blustein, J. (2004) Integrating medicine and the family: Toward a coherent ethic of care. In C. Levine and T. H. Murray (eds) The Cultures of Caregiving, 127–146. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Guberman, N., Lavoie, J.-P., Pepin, J., Lauzon, S. and Montejo, M.-E. (2006) Formal service practitioners’ views of family caregivers’ responsibilities and difficulties. Canadian Journal on Aging 25 (1): 43–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cja.2006.0024
Guberman, N. and Maheu, P. (2002) Conceptions of family caregiving: Implications for professional practice. Canadian Journal on Aging 21 (1): 25–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0714980800000611
Hall, C., Sarangi, S. and Slembrouck, S. (1999) The legitimation of the client and the profession: Identities and roles in social work discourse. In C. Roberts and S. Sarangi (eds) Talk, Work and Institutional Order: Discourse in Medical, Mediation and Management Settings, 293–322. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Hall, C., Slembrouck, S. and Sarangi, S. (2006) Language Practices in Social Work: Categorisation and Accountability in Child Welfare. Abingdon: Routledge.
Hellström Muhli, U. (2010) Accounts of professional and institutional tension in the context of Swedish elderly care. Journal of Ageing Studies 24: 47–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2008.06.001
Henriksson, L. and Wrede, S. (2008) The making of medico-managerial care work culture in public home care for the elderly. In S. Wrede, L. Henriksson, H. Höst, S. Johansson and B. Dybroe (eds) Care Work in Crisis: Reclaiming the Nordic Ethos of Care, 131–152. Malmö, Sweden: Studentlitteratur.
Jolanki, O., Szebehely, M. and Kauppinen. K. (2013) Family rediscovered? Working carers of older people in Finland and Sweden. In T. Kröger and S. Yeandle (eds) Combining Paid Work and Family Care: Policies and Experiences in International Perspectives, 71–87. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
Kröger, T., Anttonen, A. and Sipilä, J. (2003) Social care in Finland: Stronger and weaker forms of universalism. In A. Anttonen, J. Baldock and J. Sipilä (eds) The Young, The Old and the State: Social Care Systems in Five Industrial Nations, 25–54. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Kuronen, T. (2007) Vanhusten kotisiivous – hoivaa vai palvelua? [Cleaning the homes of older people – care or service?]. In M. Seppänen, A. Karisto and T. Kröger (eds) Vanhuus ja sosiaalityö [Old Age and Social Work], 139–166. Jyväskylä, Finland: PS-kustannus.
Linell P. and Rommetveit, R. (1998) The many forms and facets of morality in dialogue: Epilogue for the Special Issue. Research on Language and Social Interaction 31 (3–4): 465–473. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08351813.1998.9683600
Mezey, M. (2004) Nurses and their changing relationship to family caregivers. In C. Levine and T. H. Murray (eds) The Cultures of Caregiving, 70–86. Baltimore:, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Nikander, P. (2007) Interprofessional decision making in elderly care: Morality, criteria and help allocation. In I. Paoletti (ed.) Family Caregiving for Older Disabled People: Relational and Institutional Issues, 319–332. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Olaison, A. and Cedersund, E. (2008) Home care as a family matter?: Discursive positioning, storylines and decision-making in assessment talk. Communication & Medicine 5 (2): 55–68.
Paoletti, I. (2007) The intricacy of gender, moral, relational, financial and housing issues. In I. Paoletti (ed.) Family Caregiving for Older Disabled People: Relational and Institutional Issues, 333–357. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Phillips, J. (2007) Care. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Pomerantz, A. (1986) Extreme case formulation: A way of legitimating claims. Human Studies 9: 219–229. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00148128
Potter, J. (1996) Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. London: Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446222119
Potter, J. and Wetherell, M. (1987) Discourse and Social Psychology: Beyond Attitudes and Behaviour. London: Sage.
Roberts, C. and Sarangi, S. (1999) Negotiating and legitimating roles and identities. In S. Sarangi and C. Roberts (eds) Talk, Work and Institutional Order: Discourse in Medical, Mediation and Management Settings, 227–229. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Ronch J. L. (2004) Changing institutional culture: Turning adversaries into partners. In C. Levine and T. H. Murray (eds) The Cultures of Caregiving, 155–170. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Sarangi, S. (2001) Editorial: On demarcating the space between ‘lay expertise’ and ‘expert laity’. Text 21 (1–2): 3–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/text.1.21.1-2.3
Sims-Gould, J. and Martin-Matthews, A. (2010) We share the care: Family caregivers’ experiences of their older relatives receiving home support services. Health and Social Care in the Community 18 (4): 415–423. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2010.00913.x
Soodeen, R.-A., Gregory, D. and Bond, J. B. (2007) Home care for older couples: ‘It feels like a security blanket’. Qualitative Health Research 17 (9): 1245–1255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049732307307339
Surpin, R. and Hanley, E. (2004) The culture of home care: Whose values prevail? In C. Levine and T. H. Murray (eds) The Cultures of Caregiving, 87–99. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Tedre, S. (2004) Likainen työ ja virallinen hoiva [Dirty work and formal caregiving]. In L. Henriksson and S. Wrede (eds) Hyvinvointityön ammatit [Carework Professions], 63–83. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
Vilkko, A., Muuri, A. and Finne-Soveri, H. (2010) Läheisapu iäkkään ihmisen arjessa [Older people and care received from the family and the relatives]. In M. Vaarama, P. Moisio and S. Karvonen (eds) Suomalaisten hyvinvointi 2010 [Wellbeing of the Finns 2010], 60–77. Helsinki: National Institute for Health and Welfare.
Ward-Griffin, C. and McKeever, P. (2000) Relationship between nurses and family caregivers: Partners in care? Advances in Nursing Science 22: 89–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00012272-200003000-00008
Wetherell, M. (1998) Positioning and interpretative repertoires: Conversation analysis and post-structuralism in dialogue. Discourse & Society 9 (3): 387–412. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926598009003005
Wetherell, M. and Edley, N. (1999) Negotiating hegemonic masculinity: Imaginary positions and psycho-discursive practices. Feminism and Psychology 9 (3): 335–356. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959353599009003012
Wrede, S. and Henriksson, L. (2004) Kahden kerroksen väkeä: kotihoidon ammatillinen uusjako [Upstairs, downstairs: Professional re-division of home care work]. In L. Henriksson and S. Wrede (eds) Hyvinvointityön ammatit [Carework Professions], 210–234. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
Yeandle, S. and Kröger, T. (2013) Reconciling work and care for older parents, disabled children and partners: Convergent or separate paths in three welfare systems? In T. Kröger and S. Yeandle (eds) Combining Paid Work and Family Care: Policies and Experiences in International Perspectives, 219–239. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
Yeandle, S., Kröger, T. and Cass, B. (2012) Voice and choice for users and carers? Developments in patterns of care for older people in Australia, England and Finland. Journal of European Social Policy 22 (4): 432–445. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0958928712449775
Zechner, M. (2007) Puolisoitaan hoivaavien luottamus vanhuspalveluihin [Trust for old people’s care services among spousal care givers]. In M. Seppänen, A. Karisto and T. Kröger Vanhuus ja sosiaalityö [Old age and Social Work], 139–166. Jyväskylä, Finland: PS-kustannus.
Published
2015-07-10
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
How to Cite
Jolanki, O. (2015). Whose business is it anyway? Distributing responsibilities between family members and formal carers. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, 9(3), 319–340. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.v9i3.20842
