Hardback
The Labour Crisis in Long-term Care
The Right to Care
9781035340293 Edward Elgar Publishing
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share at Elgaronline.
Incorporating in-depth historical and empirical research, this book examines the widely acknowledged crisis in the long-term care labour force. A diverse array of experts compare labour force strategies in Canada, Norway and Sweden and invite readers to rethink approaches to the long term care labour force, starting with the lives of those who do the work.
Incorporating in-depth historical and empirical research, this book examines the widely acknowledged crisis in the long-term care labour force. A diverse array of experts compare labour force strategies in Canada, Norway and Sweden and invite readers to rethink approaches to the long term care labour force, starting with the lives of those who do the work.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contents
More Information
Incorporating in-depth historical and empirical research, this book examines the widely acknowledged crisis in the long-term care labour force. A diverse array of experts compare labour force strategies in Canada, Norway and Sweden and invite readers to rethink approaches to the long term care labour force, starting with the lives of those who do the work.
Focusing on different dominant strategies, chapter authors analyze how innovative approaches might be employed to reorganize, retain, reduce, replace, and recruit workers. They assess each strategy in terms of promoting the right to care and explore limitations on the right to access quality care services and the right to provide quality long-term care. Ultimately, they argue that the conditions of work are the conditions of care, conditions that include the overall structures, policies and practices that shape the work and care.
The Labour Crisis in Long-term Care is a thought-provoking book that will appeal to students and researchers in health services, aging, labour policy, sociology of work and social work. Managers, researchers and leaders in health care and health policy decision-makers will also benefit from this important resource.
Focusing on different dominant strategies, chapter authors analyze how innovative approaches might be employed to reorganize, retain, reduce, replace, and recruit workers. They assess each strategy in terms of promoting the right to care and explore limitations on the right to access quality care services and the right to provide quality long-term care. Ultimately, they argue that the conditions of work are the conditions of care, conditions that include the overall structures, policies and practices that shape the work and care.
The Labour Crisis in Long-term Care is a thought-provoking book that will appeal to students and researchers in health services, aging, labour policy, sociology of work and social work. Managers, researchers and leaders in health care and health policy decision-makers will also benefit from this important resource.
Critical Acclaim
‘An essential volume that smartly reframes the current long-term care crisis as a labor force crisis. Drawing on feminist theory, the authors thoughtfully redefine care as a relationship built on the collective right to receive and to provide quality care. They carefully document how and why quality care for the largely female nursing home population depends heavily on the wages and working conditions of the industry’s largely female work force. Rejecting prevailing individualized explanations, they spell out much-needed systemic strategies to ensure that the “conditions of work are the condition of care.”’
– Mimi Abramovitz, Hunter College and Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
‘The Labour Crisis in Long-term Care is a vital read, warning against short-term fixes and emphasizing relationship-based care as key to both staff retention and high-quality care. This perspective is essential for understanding the mechanisms behind a sustainable workforce in elder care.’
– Mia Vabø, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
‘Health care quality suffers from profound misunderstanding of its constraints and allowances. In this extraordinarily stimulating book, Pat Armstrong’s group explains exactly why and how these problems arise. They explore the intertwining of conditions of care work and those of residents in long-term care, and the burden placed on those (primarily women) who provide and receive it. They also flag current tendencies that undermine best care practices. Let’s hope all these governments are listening!’
– Karen Messing, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
‘The contributing authors, all eminent experts on the political economy of care, provide a refreshing look at current problems in their respective countries, and offer persuasive arguments for treating the right to care and dignity in work for care providers as two sides of the equation in meeting new challenges.’
– Miriam Glucksmann, Essex University, UK
– Mimi Abramovitz, Hunter College and Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
‘The Labour Crisis in Long-term Care is a vital read, warning against short-term fixes and emphasizing relationship-based care as key to both staff retention and high-quality care. This perspective is essential for understanding the mechanisms behind a sustainable workforce in elder care.’
– Mia Vabø, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
‘Health care quality suffers from profound misunderstanding of its constraints and allowances. In this extraordinarily stimulating book, Pat Armstrong’s group explains exactly why and how these problems arise. They explore the intertwining of conditions of care work and those of residents in long-term care, and the burden placed on those (primarily women) who provide and receive it. They also flag current tendencies that undermine best care practices. Let’s hope all these governments are listening!’
– Karen Messing, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
‘The contributing authors, all eminent experts on the political economy of care, provide a refreshing look at current problems in their respective countries, and offer persuasive arguments for treating the right to care and dignity in work for care providers as two sides of the equation in meeting new challenges.’
– Miriam Glucksmann, Essex University, UK
Contents
Contents
1 Introduction: quality care and quality work 1
Pat Armstrong
2 Reorganizing the long-term care sector in Ontario,
Norway, and Sweden: does it address labour issues? 28
Susan Braedley, Frode F. Jacobsen and Marta Szebehely
3 Retaining workers: revisiting nursing home working conditions 53
Jacqueline A. Choiniere, Christine Streeter, Frode F.
Jacobsen, Hugh Armstrong, and Rebecka Strandell
4 Reducing labour: aging in place, responsibilization,
innovation, and public expectations in long-term care 76
Gudmund Ågotnes, Susan Braedley, James Struthers, and
Marta Szebehely
5 Replacing labour? Welfare technology and long-term care 95
Rebecka Strandell, Susan Braedley, and Frode F. Jacobsen
6 Recruiting labour: the challenge of finding workers 118
Martha MacDonald, Gudmund Ågotnes, and Marta Szebehely
7 Rethinking labour force strategies 137
Pat Armstrong
1 Introduction: quality care and quality work 1
Pat Armstrong
2 Reorganizing the long-term care sector in Ontario,
Norway, and Sweden: does it address labour issues? 28
Susan Braedley, Frode F. Jacobsen and Marta Szebehely
3 Retaining workers: revisiting nursing home working conditions 53
Jacqueline A. Choiniere, Christine Streeter, Frode F.
Jacobsen, Hugh Armstrong, and Rebecka Strandell
4 Reducing labour: aging in place, responsibilization,
innovation, and public expectations in long-term care 76
Gudmund Ågotnes, Susan Braedley, James Struthers, and
Marta Szebehely
5 Replacing labour? Welfare technology and long-term care 95
Rebecka Strandell, Susan Braedley, and Frode F. Jacobsen
6 Recruiting labour: the challenge of finding workers 118
Martha MacDonald, Gudmund Ågotnes, and Marta Szebehely
7 Rethinking labour force strategies 137
Pat Armstrong
