scholarly journals “We Will Handle It Ourselves”: The Micropolitics of Resistance in Low-Wage Care Work

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-58
Author(s):  
Jillian Crocker
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Nursing Assistants ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Group Norms ◽  
Certified Nursing Assistants ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Workplace Inequality ◽  
Rule Breaking

This article examines the micropolitics of resistance among low-wage care workers in a gendered organization. Focusing on the dynamics of workers’ daily efforts to endure organizational structure, I illustrate not only the ways in which certified nursing assistants (CNAs) perform routine resistance but also the significance of gendered group norms for rule-breaking. Drawing on 10 months of observations and 30 interviews in a nursing home, findings illustrate two factors fundamentally linked to the gendered character of the work as particularly salient for peer support of others’ rule-breaking: perceptions of resident safety and the expectation of coworker reciprocity. The article considers both the implications of these practices for daily work experience and the extent to which our understanding of routine resistance is complicated by the possibility that the same features of work that form the backbone of workplace inequality are those that shape resistance and worker solidarity.

scholarly journals Is There Time Enough? Temporal Resources and Service Performance in the Danish Home Care Sector

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pernille Tufte
Keyword(s):  
Home Care ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Grounded Theory Method ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
And Performance

Reflecting on the temporal conditions of home care work, care workers are fairly critical, stressing that time frames are inflexible and time is limited and occasionally insufficient, altogether constituting a time pressure in work performance. Besides from the immediate consequences of time scarcity in the daily work performance, care workers relate the issue of time to a more fundamental discussion of what the performance of care does and should entail. The purpose of the article is to examine care workers’ perceptions of the temporal conditions of care work, investigating how time pressure constitutes a challenge to care workers’ own sense and valuation of their work. The article is informed by two theoretical perspectives: standardization of care services and performance of care work in private homes. Empirically, the article examines how care workers perceive the relations between the temporal framing and the possibilities to perform care work. Methodologically, the article is based on qualitative data, collected through focus group interviews and participant observation, and analyzed within the perspective of reflexive interpretation, using grounded theory method and hermeneutic approaches of analysis. A central focus of analysis is the concept of “additional care services.” The use of the concept reflects different understandings of care. Relying on the logic of standardization, managers articulate additional services as definite items, which could (and should) be left out of the performance of care work. Care workers do, however, not accept this notion. Relying on their experience of work, they perceive additional services as an ambiguous concept, which recognizes the multiple character of care work. Conclusions are that time scarcity constitutes a pressure on work performance as a whole, reducing care workers’ flexibility, challenging their authority, but still keeping them in a position of responsibility. Ultimately, the battle on time reflects the ambivalences in care work—ambivalences that are becoming increasingly difficult for care workers to handle in work performance.

scholarly journals Technology Implementation in Elderly Care: Subject Positioning in Times of Transformation

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 628-649
Author(s):  
Beata Segercrantz ◽  
Maria Forss
Keyword(s):  
Technology Implementation ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Innovation Implementation ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Subject Positioning

Innovation is often celebrated as a solution to various challenges in care work. Thus, a growing number of care workers are likely to experience innovations in their daily work. This article examines how care workers and project workers in elderly care are affected by contemporary transformations by exploring: (1) how they construct meanings around innovation implementation and (2) are subject positioned in relation to these meanings. Drawing on discourse analysis, we conduct a case study and analyze semistructured interviews, observations, and organizational documents. We illustrate how innovation is constructed in terms of optimism, and also as a source for struggle, with specific effects on care workers’ subject positioning. The findings thus contribute to new insights into the contemporary dominating discourse of innovation and its implications at the level of practice and subjectivity.

scholarly journals Organizational Factors Associated With Retention of Certified Nursing Assistants and Direct Care Workers

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 384-385
Author(s):  
Katherine Kennedy ◽  
Robert Applebaum ◽  
John Bowblis ◽  
Jane Straker
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Care ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Nursing Assistants ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Direct Care Workers ◽  
Certified Nursing Assistants ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care Workers

Abstract Low retention of certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and direct care workers (DCWs) continues to be an unresolved problem for nursing homes (NH) and assisted living (AL) settings. While numerous studies have examined predictors of CNA retention in NHs, little attention has been paid to differences between settings of long-term care. To inform practice and policy related to growth in the AL industry, this study compares the predictors of CNA and DCW retention rates. The 2017 Ohio Biennial Survey of Long-Term Care Facilities provides facility-level information from 968 NHs (91% response rate) and 708 ALs (88% response rate). Using regression analysis, we compare the factors that predict retention rates among providers with complete data on retention and controls. The same covariates relating to structural and financial characteristics, as well as staffing, management, and a number of retention best practices are used. Average DCW and CNA retention rates were 66% and 61% in ALs and NHs, respectively, with some settings reporting very low (and even 0%) retention over a year. AL and NH providers rated the problem’s severity highest (6 out of 10) compared to retaining other licensed nurses. Similar and different predictors were found across financial, environmental, and managerial practices supporting retention. CNA and DCW retention strategies may not be equivalently meaningful between settings, given differing working environments, resources, and regulations. Aging services managers should be attuned to practices supporting retention in their industry.

Needs assessment for certified nursing assistants providing personal care

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenay M. Beer ◽  
Jennifer M. Springman ◽  
Sara E. McBride ◽  
Tracy L. Mitzner ◽  
Wendy A. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Needs Assessment ◽  
Nursing Assistants ◽  
Certified Nursing Assistants ◽  
Personal Care

scholarly journals Certified Nursing Assistants' Explanatory Models of Nursing Home Resident Depression

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 653-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Lynn Piven ◽  
Ruth A. Anderson ◽  
Cathleen S. Colón-Emeric ◽  
Margarete Sandelowski
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Home ◽  
Nursing Home Resident ◽  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Nursing Assistants ◽  
Certified Nursing Assistants

scholarly journals Leading for Whom? Teaching-Research Officers’ Role Perception and Work Engagement in Chinese Mainland

2021 ◽  
pp. 209653112110093
Author(s):  
Wei Shen ◽  
Hongmei Ma
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Work Engagement ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Work Role ◽  
Role Perception ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
International Perspectives ◽  
Teaching Research

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to analyze both teaching-research officers (TROs)’ role perceptions and work engagement, figuring out how their competing roles balanced to ensure continued work engagement and which roles are greater benefits to the community and educational reform. Design/Approach/Methods: The study employs questionnaire which is composed of inventory of work role requirements and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, to investigate TROs’ role perception, work engagement, and their relationship. Findings: TROs’ work experience had a complicated relationship with their work engagement. The two strands of the TRO’s role orientation co-existed within their daily work and strengthened each other through exerting effects on the dedication and absorption aspects of work engagement. However, TROs concerned with teacher development displayed higher work engagement than those who put a greater emphasis on policy implementation. Originality/Value: The study contributes to current research in three respects. First, it bridges the macro-level trend of education reform with microlevel role internalization of individuals. Second, it broadens our understanding of work engagement by linking it with the subjective perceptions of one’s work role. Finally, this Chinese case is expected to enrich international perspectives on teacher leaders in the context of top-down districtwide instructional reform.

scholarly journals Certified Nursing Assistants’ Experiences of Workplace Violence Caring for Persons With Dementia

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 260-261
Author(s):  
Chunhong Xiao ◽  
Vicki Winstead ◽  
Corteza Townsend ◽  
Rita Jablonski
Keyword(s):  
Workplace Violence ◽  
Physical Violence ◽  
Nursing Assistants ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Cognitively Impaired ◽  
Certified Nursing Assistants ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Emerging Risk

Abstract Problem: Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are the primary providers of direct care to persons residing in long term care facilities (LTCFs), many of whom have dementia. The need to deliver direct and intimate care increases CNAs’ exposure to verbal and physical workplace violence. Purpose: To describe CNAs’ experiences of physical and verbal workplace violence experienced during direct care activities in LTCFs. Design: Qualitative. Sample & Procedure: Ten African-American CNAs (9 female, 1 male) were recruited using snowball sampling from multiple LTCFs. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. NVivo12 software was used to manage the thematic analyses. Results: The identified themes were: 1) CNAs’ perception that verbal and physical abuse was “part of the job” and unavoidable; 2) CNAs’ feelings of minimization of the abuse by administration; and 3) inadequate CNA training to recognize and de-escalate triggers of verbal and physical violence, notably care-resistant behavior. Conclusion: The combination of institutional tolerance of workplace violence, coupled with CNAs’ insufficient training in de-escalating volatile interactions with cognitively-impaired residents, is creating an unfavorable, possibly dangerous, workplace environment for CNAs. Implications: As more states elevate assaults on healthcare workers to felony crimes, there is an emerging risk of criminalizing dementia-related behavior in an attempt to address workplace violence. Interventions focused on helping CNAs recognize and de-escalate care-resistant behavior are necessary for violence prevention programs in LTCFs. Limitations: CNAs may have self-censored and under-described the severity of their experiences during face-to-face interviews, even with confidentiality protocols and the practice of off-site interviews.

Academic Labor: Who Cares?

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen M. Cardozo
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Disparate Impact ◽  
Contingent Labor ◽  
Tenure System ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Academic Labor ◽  
Diversity Issues ◽  
Labor Issues ◽  
Predominantly Female

This article analyzes the neoliberal turn to contingent labor in academe, specifically the development of a ‘teaching-only’ sector, through the lens of feminist, interdisciplinary and intersectional studies of care work. Integrating discourses on faculty contingency and diversity with care scholarship reveals that the construction of a casualized and predominantly female teaching class in higher education follows longstanding patterns of devaluing socially reproductive work under capitalism. The devaluation of care may also have a disparate impact on the advancement of women within the tenure system. In short, academic labor issues are also diversity issues. To re-value those who care, intersectional alliances must be forged not only between faculty sectors, but also among faculty, care workers in other industries, and members of society who benefit from caring labor.

scholarly journals The Impact of Covid‐19 on Certified Nursing Assistants in New York City: A Cross‐Sectional Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (S2) ◽  
pp. 41-42
Author(s):  
Sanjay Pinto ◽  
Madeline Sterling ◽  
Faith Wiggins ◽  
Rebecca Hall ◽  
Chenjuan Ma
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Nursing Assistants ◽  
Certified Nursing Assistants ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Impact
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