scholarly journals Health promotion in care organizations as material-discursive practices

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Segercrantz ◽  
Annamari Tuori ◽  
Charlotta Niemistö
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Discursive Practices ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Health Promoting

PurposeDrawing on a performative ontology, this article extends the literature on health promotion in organizations by exploring how health promotion is performed in care work. The focus of the study is on health promotion in a context of illness and/or decline, which form the core of the studied organizational activities. The paper addresses the following question: how do care workers working in elderly care and mental health care organizations accomplish health promotion in the context of illness and/or decline?Design/methodology/approachThe article develops a performative approach and analyses material-discursive practices in health promoting care work. The empirical material includes 36 semi-structured interviews with care workers, observations and organizational documents.FindingsTwo central material-discursive health promoting practices in care work are identified: confirming that celebrates service users as residents and the organizations as a home, and balancing at the limits of health promotion. The practices of balancing make the limitations of health promotion discernible and involve reconciling health promotion with that which does not neatly fit into it (illness, unachievable care aims, the institution and certain organizing). In sum, the study shows how health promotion can structure processes in care homes where illness and decline often are particularly palpable.Originality/valueThe paper explores health promotion in a context rarely explored in organization studies. Previous organization studies have to some extent explored health promotion and care work, but typically separately. Further, the few studies that have adopted a performative approach to material-discursive practices in the context of care work have typically primarily focused on IT. We extend previous organization studies literature by producing new insights: (1) from an important organizational context of health promotion and (2) of under-researched entanglements of human and non-human actors in care work providing a performative theory of reconciling organizational tensions.

scholarly journals Teaching health education

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Pickett ◽  
Willeke Rietdijk ◽  
Jenny Byrne ◽  
Jonathan Shepherd ◽  
Paul Roderick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand early career teachers’ perceptions of the impact of a pre-service health education programme on their health promotion practice in schools and the contextual factors that influence this. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 primary and secondary trainee and qualified teachers who had trained at a university in England. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings The teachers found the training to be a useful introduction, particularly when it was relevant to their practice. They valued gaining practical skills at university, on placement and in school once qualified. They reported that witnessing pupils’ lives in school had increased their awareness that health education is important. Their personal qualities, life experience, the school’s ethos and competing pressures influenced their practice. Teachers considered that building relationships with colleagues, pupils and parents facilitated health promotion, and that health education needs to be relevant to pupils. Some teachers expressed that teaching about health could be a “minefield”. They also discussed whether schools or parents are responsible for educating pupils about health issues and the place of health promotion within education’s wider purpose. Originality/value Few studies have followed-up trainee teachers once they are in teaching posts to explore the longer-term perceived impact of pre-service health education training. The findings suggest that teachers’ development takes place via an interaction between training and practice, suggesting that training could particularly aim to provide teachers with a contextualised understanding of health issues and practical experience.

Formal and informal long term care work: policy conflict in a liberal welfare state

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 134-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Murphy ◽  
Thomas Turner
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Informal Care ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Formal Care ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Informal Carers

Purpose The undervaluing of care work, whether conducted informally or formally, has long been subject to debate. While much discussion, and indeed reform has centred on childcare, there is a growing need, particularly in countries with ageing populations, to examine how long-term care (LTC) work is valued. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the way in which employment policies (female labour market participation, retirement age, and precarious work) and social policies (care entitlements and benefits/leave for carers) affect both informal carers and formal care workers in a liberal welfare state with a rapidly ageing population. Design/methodology/approach Drawing the adult worker model the authors use the existing literature on ageing care and employment to examine the approach of a liberal welfare state to care work focusing on both supports for informal carers and job quality in the formal care sector. Findings The research suggests that employment policies advocating increased labour participation, delaying retirement and treating informal care as a form of welfare are at odds with LTC strategies which encourage informal care. Furthermore, the latter policy acts to devalue formal care roles in an economic sense and potentially discourages workers from entering the formal care sector. Originality/value To date research investigating the interplay between employment and LTC policies has focused on either informal or formal care workers. In combining both aspects, we view informal and formal care workers as complementary, interdependent agents in the care process. This underlines the need to develop social policy regarding care and employment which encompasses the needs of each group concurrently.

scholarly journals ‘It’s a real fine balancing act’: directly employed care workers’ experiences of engaging with health services

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Wilcock ◽  
Jill Manthorpe ◽  
Jo Moriarty ◽  
Steve Iliffe
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Health And Well Being

Little is known of the experiences of directly employed care workers communicating with healthcare providers about the situations of their employers. We report findings from 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews with directly employed care workers in England undertaken in 2018–19. Findings relate to role content, communication with healthcare professionals and their own well-being. Directly employed care workers need to be flexible about the tasks they perform and the changing needs of those whom they support. Having to take on health liaison roles can be problematic, and the impact of care work on directly employed workers’ own health and well-being needs further investigation.

scholarly journals An integrative discourse perspective on positive leadership in public health care

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ville Pietiläinen ◽  
Ilkka Salmi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Role Taking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive Leadership ◽  
The Public

Purpose This study aims to take a discursive view on positive leadership (PL). A positive approach has gained momentum in recent years as appropriate leadership practices are implemented in organizations. Despite the turn toward discursive approaches in organization studies, there is insufficient evidence supporting PL as a socially constructed experience. Design/methodology/approach The present study addresses an integrative discourse perspective for capturing the PL concept as a social process within the public health-care context. Findings Four meanings of PL are highlighted: role-taking, servicing, balancing and deciphering. Research limitations/implications The meanings shift the emphasis of certain PL definitions to a contextual interpretation. For scholars, the perspective demonstrates a multidimensional process approach in the desired organizational context as a counterbalance to one unanimously agreed-upon PL definition. Practical implications For leaders, an integrative discourse perspective offers tools for comprehending PL as a process: how to identify, negotiate and reconcile various PL meanings. Originality/value An integrative discourse perspective provides a novel perspective capturing the PL concept within the public health-care field.

scholarly journals Developing Care Professionals: Changing Disability Services in Sweden

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Gäddman Johansson ◽  
Ulla Hellström Muhli
Keyword(s):  
Close Contact ◽  
Care Service ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Disability Services ◽  
Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Line Contacts

In Sweden, professionalization projects in disability care services are currently being undertaken in order to differentiate and establish a professional identity for professionals within care work. The aim of this paper was to analyse the experiences of care workers’ meaning of the professionalization process concerning their occupation and their occupational identity in relation to tasks they perform in front-line contacts with persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities at respite care service homes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten care workers. The meaning of the professionalization projects is an ongoing process of a connected mission, meaning that the care work is performed in close contact with care receivers and that it takes place within an informal and free framework, predicated on a logic of possessing a particular kind of “care-feeling.”

Grow Online: feasibility and proof of concept study

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Ryan P. Chesnut ◽  
Melina Czymoniewicz-Klippel ◽  
Jennifer M. DiNallo ◽  
Daniel F. Perkins
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Attrition Rate ◽  
Emotion Coaching ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Health Promoting ◽  
Care Information

Purpose Digitally delivered, parent-focused interventions (DD-PFIs) are viewed as an important method for supporting child well-being. Few DD-PFIs include health-promotion and general-parenting content, and only some are intended for a universal audience. The purpose of this paper is to focus on a preliminary evaluation of Grow Online, which was designed to address this gap. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods design, including pretests and posttests and semi-structured interviews, was employed to evaluate program feasibility and demonstrate proof of concept. Findings Feasibility findings were favorable, which indicates participants were satisfied with the program, liked the main program features, found the content helpful and had a positive experience using the website. Initial recruitment was strong, and engagement with the sessions was high; however, retention was poor with a 73.5 percent attrition rate. Significant pre- to post-changes were found on measures of over-reactive discipline, parenting efficacy, emotion coaching, coping socialization, child physical activity support, rewarding eating and child externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Research limitations/implications Study design and high attrition limit the ability to infer causality and generalize beyond the sample. Practical implications Providing support to parents through a universal health-promoting DD-PFI is viable, though issues involving retention need to be given full consideration. Originality/value Parents use of technology to access child care information is increasing, but most information online is not evidence-informed. Grow Online fills an important gap in the research and practice of DD-PFIs, and this study’s findings suggest a more rigorous evaluation is merited.

Advancing the Big Five of user-oriented care and accounting for its variations

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petri Kajonius ◽  
Ali Kazemi
Keyword(s):  
Big Five ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Process Quality ◽  
Care Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Care Worker ◽  
Quality Variation

Purpose – Care process quality (i.e. how care is enacted by a care worker toward a client at the interpersonal level) is a strong predictor of satisfaction in a wide range of health care services. The purpose of this paper is to describe the basic elements of care process quality as user-oriented care. Specifically, the questions of how and why quality in user-oriented care varies were investigated in the context of elderly care. Design/methodology/approach – Two municipalities were selected for in-depth field studies. First, in each municipality, the authors interviewed and observed care workers’ interactions with the older persons in both home care and nursing homes during two weeks (Study 1). Second, in an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of why process quality in terms of user-oriented care varies, the authors conducted interviews with care workers and care unit managers (Study 2). Findings – A new taxonomy for categorizing process quality variation, the Big Five of user-oriented care (task-focus, person-focus, affect, cooperation, and time-use), is proposed. In addition, the perceived reasons for process quality variation are reported in our own developed Quality Agents Model, suggesting that variations in care process evaluations may be explained from different perspectives at multiple levels (i.e., older person, care worker-, unit-, department-, and municipality level). Originality/value – The proposed taxonomy and model are useful for describing user-oriented care quality and the reasons for its variations. These findings are of relevance for future quality developments of elderly care services, but also may be adapted to applications in any other enterprise employing a user-oriented approach.

scholarly journals Variations in user-oriented elderly care: a multilevel approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Kazemi ◽  
Petri Kajonius
Keyword(s):  
Elderly Care ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Satisfaction With Care ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Board ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Interpersonal Care ◽  
Sources Of Variation

Purpose National Board of Health and Welfare claims that the quality of elderly care services differ considerably between municipalities in Sweden. This study aims to analyze to what extent these variations can be accounted for by the older person’s municipality affiliation (i.e. receiving elderly care in a certain municipality). Design/methodology/approach Addressing this issue, national survey data from 78,538 older respondents receiving elderly care services in Sweden were analyzed using multilevel modeling (MLM). Findings The results showed that municipality affiliation only marginally explained the variance in satisfaction with care, i.e. its variations were larger within than between municipalities. Instead, user-oriented care accounted for the variation in satisfaction with care. Specifically, the way the care workers behave toward the older person proved to be much more crucial for satisfaction with care than municipality affiliation. Moreover, random effects analyses revealed that the effects of user-oriented care on satisfaction with care varied across municipalities. Care setting (i.e. home care or nursing home) only marginally accounted for its variance. Practical implications Developing care quality should start and primarily be discussed at the interpersonal care level, and not, as is customary, at the municipality level. Originality/value The present research is the first in its kind to quantitatively investigate the sources of variation in perceived quality of Swedish elderly care using MLM.

Leader, “know yourself”: bringing back self-awareness, trust and feedback with a theory O perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngaio Crook ◽  
Ozan Nadir Alakavuklar ◽  
Ralph Bathurst
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Theory U ◽  
Conceptual Tool ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Experience Of Change

PurposeThis paper explores how leaders identify their roles and selves when they lead change in a dynamic organizational context.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative approach, ten ICT leaders participated in semi-structured interviews depicting their experiences of change. A thematic method of interpretative analysis was used to develop findings, supported by Theory U as a conceptual tool for leadership self-awareness.FindingsLeaders struggle with organizational constraints and boundaries, specifically the complexities that form and limit their leadership underpinned by unrealistic expectations due to the construction of romanticized heroic leadership. While these restrictions lead to feelings of detachment of leaders from their organizations, leadership development exists in the acts of letting go of old behaviors, and welcoming emergence and experimentation by trusting more.Research limitations/implicationsThis study may be limited by its small sample and the use of one framework to make sense of the leaders' experience of change. It confirms that change can challenge organizing norms and how leadership is identified.Practical implicationsDespite the feeling of detachment from their organizations, developing greater self-awareness, being open to new ideas and trusting more can bring about better organizational outcomes, which is represented with Theory O as a contribution both for theory and practice.Originality/valueThis study illustrates (1) leaders' inner work or personal experience of change, and (2) how improvement of self-awareness can contribute to the involvement of leaders to the change process. Based on self-awareness, trust and feedback relationship, this study suggests a new practical and conceptual tool called Theory O by advancing Theory U.

scholarly journals Smooth power: identifying high-level leadership skills promoting organizational adaptability

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Ohlsson ◽  
Aida Alvinius ◽  
Gerry Larsson
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
High Level ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this research is to gain deeper understanding of the leadership skills that are important to enhance adaptability in a hierarchical organization together with the antecedent factors that influence the potential development of these sets of skills. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative research design applying grounded theory to investigate the specific skills of military senior officers and their interactions. Semi structured interviews were conducted and analyzed. Military organizations are hierarchical which may act against informal networking. Adaptability is however essential especially in emergency situations. Findings The organizational smooth power consisted of structural smoothness, emotional smoothness and relational smoothness. Four distinct superior categories emerged from the data: the professional background of the leader, professional name-branding, contextual appraisal and organizational smooth power. Research limitations/implications The authors advise that while it can be hypothesized that other organizational context may show similar behaviors, this would have to be tested by further research. Further research would be required to explore the generalizability of these finding to other parts of the world and to contexts other than the military. The authors do not claim to have captured all the relevant factors and the model developed by this research should be regarded as preliminary. Practical implications This research has practical implications for the recruitment and retention of personnel for senior military posts. It also has implications for leadership development initiatives and increasing both awareness of and skills in smooth power. Originality/value Previous research had not identified the specific skills needed to achieve the organizational adaptability necessary to meet the changing demands of the environment. While previous research has indicated that building networks and relationships are important it has not specified the skill set necessary for leaders to do so effectively. Thus, this research has originality and value and it also opens ways forward in future research.

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