Generating Independence

2018 ◽  
pp. 33-61
Author(s):  
Elana D. Buch
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Good Care ◽  
Independent Manner ◽  
Reciprocal Relationships ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Home Care Workers ◽  
To Receive

The first chapter of the book draws on the life histories of three very different older adults, exploring how elders came to understand the ideas of independence over their long histories of experience. These histories reveal the stakes of care for older adults and how they distinguish good care from bad. Older adults did not imagine independence as requiring them to sustain their lives without assistance from anyone else. They understood independence as generated through reciprocal relationships in which they contributed equitably to the well-being of those upon whom they relied. Older adults took solace in the fact that their home care workers were paid, seeing this as a more independent manner in which to receive care than relying on unpaid but morally obligated relatives. In this way, home care buttressed older adults from becoming a burden on those they loved, protecting them from the always present specter of dependence.

Social Workers’ Attempts to Navigate Among the Elderly, Their Families, and Foreign Home Care Workers in the Haredi Community

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 617-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anat Freund ◽  
Tova Band-Winterstein
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Barriers And Challenges ◽  
Qualitative Phenomenological ◽  
Cultural Bridge ◽  
Home Care Workers

Background: The study’s aim is to examine social workers’ experience in facilitating the integration of foreign home care workers (FHCWs) into the ultraorthodox Jewish (UOJ) community for the purpose of treating older adults. Method: Using the qualitative-phenomenological approach, semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 social workers in daily contact with UOJ older adult clients in the process of integrating FHCWs. Results: Data analysis revealed three central themes—integrating FHCWs into the aging UOJ family: barriers and challenges in the interaction between the two worlds; “even the rabbi has a FHCW”: changing trends in caring for older adults; and the social worker as mediator and facilitator of a successful relationship. Discussion: Social workers play a central role, serving as a cultural bridge in the process of integrating FHCWs, as a way of addressing the needs of ultraorthodox elderly and their families, while also considering the needs of the foreign workers.

Becoming a Home Care Worker: Job-Seekers’ Push and Pull Factors

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiri Shinan-Altman ◽  
Varda Soskolne ◽  
Liat Ayalon
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Personal Relationship ◽  
Job Seekers ◽  
Pull Factors ◽  
Push And Pull Factors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Home Care Workers ◽  
Push And Pull

This study examined “push and pull” factors associated with the decision to become home care workers among job-seekers in Israel. Participants completed measures of ageism, anxiety about aging, attitudes toward the home care profession, and personal relationship with older adults. Of 1,492 participants, 32.0% accepted the offer to become home care workers and were no longer in the job market, 36.7% accepted the offer but worked in the past, and 31.2% refused the offer. Compared to participants currently employed, the odds of being employed in the past were higher for participants who were younger, with poorer health and higher ageism; the odds of refusal were higher for males, Arabs, younger participants, with more education, lower ageism, and fewer personal relationship with older adults. The findings have implications for practice with job-seekers and for retaining current home care workers in the field. This may assist in expanding the home care workforce.

Inheriting Care

2018 ◽  
pp. 62-87
Author(s):  
Elana D. Buch
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Moral Imagination ◽  
Typically Develop ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Poor Women ◽  
Survival Skills ◽  
Home Care Workers

Home care workers typically develop indispensable expertise caring for kin in difficult circumstances. This chapter presents the life histories of two home care workers, to argue that workers’ care for kin generates forms of moral imagination in which care practices are inextricably linked to notions of obligation, reciprocity, and sacrifice. For workers, these moral and domestic lessons become survival skills thanks to long histories of discriminatory social policy that regenerate the racial and gendered contours of poverty while funneling poor women of color into domestic and care jobs. Their stories highlight their resilient and creative responses to poverty, and their central role generating the independence of others.

Abuse is in the eyes of the beholder: using multiple perspectives to evaluate elder mistreatment under round-the-clock foreign home carers in Israel

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
LIAT AYALON
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Elder Abuse ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Elder Abuse And Neglect ◽  
Care Recipients ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Abuse And Neglect ◽  
Home Care Workers

ABSTRACTThe overall goal of the study reported in this paper was to examine differences in the perceived occurrence of abuse and neglect as between older care recipients, their family carers, and foreign home-care workers in Israel. Overall, 148 matched family members and foreign home-care workers and 75 care recipients completed a survey of abuse and neglect. Significant discrepancies in their reports of neglect were found, with the foreign home-care workers more likely to identify neglect (66%) than the older adults (27.7%) or their family members (29.5%). Although the rates of reported abuse ranged between 16.4 and 20.7 per cent and the differences were not statistically significant, the different parties assigned the responsibility for the abuse to different perpetrators. The independent variables that significantly associated with abuse and neglect also varied by the three groups of participants. The findings suggest that even with round-the-clock home care, the basic needs of many older adults are not met, and that many experience substantial abuse. The study emphasises the subjective nature of abuse and neglect, and suggests that more education about what constitutes elder abuse and neglect may lead to more accurate and consistent reports across reporting sources. Incorporating data from the various stakeholders may enhance the early identification of elder abuse and neglect.

Embodying Inequality

2018 ◽  
pp. 126-150
Author(s):  
Elana D. Buch
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Social Hierarchies ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Care Practices ◽  
Home Care Workers ◽  
Embodied Care

This chapter analyzes the embodied care practices at the center of home care work. The chapter argues that these practices generate deep but fragile entanglements between the lives and bodies of older adults and those of their home care workers. These practices involve forms of empathy that blur the boundaries between older adults’ and home care workers’ bodies and their personhoods. I show how home care transforms seemingly straightforward tasks like cooking into moral practices that help older adults feel independent. Home care workers’ bodies become the ground upon which moral hierarchies between persons are built, experienced, and justified on a day-to-day basis. Daily home care practices generate ways of embodying social hierarchies and shape individual subjectivities, thereby making those hierarchies feel morally legitimate.

scholarly journals From Research-to-Practice: An Adaptation and Dissemination of the COMPASS Program for Home Care Workers

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 2777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Olson ◽  
Jennifer Hess ◽  
Kelsey Parker ◽  
Sharon Thompson ◽  
Anjali Rameshbabu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Preliminary Training ◽  
Total N ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Home Care Workers

The COMmunity of Practice And Safety Support (COMPASS) program was developed to prevent injuries and advance the health and well-being of home care workers. The program integrates elements of peer-led social support groups with scripted team-based programs to help workers learn together, solve problems, set goals, make changes, and enrich their supportive professional network. After a successful pilot study and randomized controlled trial, COMPASS was adapted for the Oregon Home Care Commission’s training system for statewide dissemination. The adapted program included fewer total meetings (7 versus 13), an accelerated meeting schedule (every two weeks versus monthly), and a range of other adjustments. The revised approach was piloted with five groups of workers (total n = 42) and evaluated with pre- and post-program outcome measures. After further adjustments and planning, the statewide rollout is now in progress. In the adaptation pilot several psychosocial, safety, and health outcomes changed by a similar magnitude relative to the prior randomized controlled trial. Preliminary training evaluation data (n = 265) show high mean ratings indicating that workers like the program, find the content useful, and intend to make changes after meetings. Facilitating factors and lessons learned from the project may inform future similar efforts to translate research into practice.

scholarly journals Which factors are related to Finnish home care workers’ job satisfaction, stress, psychological distress and perceived quality of care? - a mixed method study

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salla Ruotsalainen ◽  
Sami Jantunen ◽  
Timo Sinervo
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Home Care ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Home Care Workers

Abstract Background The desire to increase the role of home care in Finland has created problems in home care work. Working conditions have deteriorated, the quality of care experienced is low, and staff members suffer from time pressure and stress, amongst other things. The aim of this article is to explore the challenges, stressors, teamwork and management factors that are associated with home care staff members’ well-being, job satisfaction and experienced care quality, and further, how staff members experience their work. Methods A survey was sent to home care workers in two case organizations that participated in the study. In addition, semi-structured theme interviews with home care workers were conducted. The data from the survey was analysed using analysis of covariance, and interview data was analysed using the Grounded Theory-based method from Gioia et al. Results Respondents of the survey and the interview participants were mainly female practical nurses. The results from the survey showed, for example, that time pressure was associated with higher stress and psychological distress, and interruptions were associated with lower job satisfaction and higher stress. In addition, variables related to teamwork, such as participative safety, were shown to explain the variation in quality of care. The analysis of the interview data further brought up dissatisfaction with management practices, which seems to have led to a decrease in job satisfaction. Exhaustion and strain were present among staff members, which originated from an insufficient number of carers. Conclusions Current working conditions and work practices in Finnish home care are experienced stressful. The results from this study indicate that having more autonomy at work was associated with job satisfaction, according to both analyses. Team climate and idea implementation were related to quality of care. Therefore, increasing self-organizing team practices might be a possible development method for improving working conditions and staff members’ well-being. Implementing self-organizing team practices could possibly also attract employees to work in home care and prevent turnover.

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