Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2012 Feb;74(3):390-398.
doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.10.037. Epub 2011 Dec 7.

Structural violence in long-term, residential care for older people: comparing Canada and Scandinavia

Affiliations
Comparative Study

Structural violence in long-term, residential care for older people: comparing Canada and Scandinavia

Albert Banerjee et al. Soc Sci Med. 2012 Feb.

Abstract

Canadian frontline careworkers are six times more likely to experience daily physical violence than their Scandinavian counterparts. This paper draws on a comparative survey of residential careworkers serving older people across three Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario) and four countries that follow a Scandinavian model of social care (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) conducted between 2005 and 2006. Ninety percent of Canadian frontline careworkers experienced physical violence from residents or their relatives and 43 percent reported physical violence on a daily basis. Canadian focus groups conducted in 2007 reveal violence was often normalized as an inevitable part of elder-care. We use the concept of "structural violence" (Galtung, 1969) to raise questions about the role that systemic and organizational factors play in setting the context for violence. Structural violence refers to indirect forms of violence that are built into social structures and that prevent people from meeting their basic needs or fulfilling their potential. We applied the concept to long-term residential care and found that the poor quality of the working conditions and inadequate levels of support experienced by Canadian careworkers constitute a form of structural violence. Working conditions are detrimental to careworker's physical and mental health, and prevent careworkers from providing the quality of care they are capable of providing and understand to be part of their job. These conditions may also contribute to the physical violence workers experience, and further investigation is warranted.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Anttonen A, Sipilä J. European Social Care Services. Journal of European Social Policy. 1996;6(2):87–100.
    1. Armstrong P, Daly T. There are Not Enough Hands. Toronto: CUPE; 2004.
    1. Armstrong P, Banerjee A, Szebehely M, Armstrong H, Daly T, Lafrance S. They Deserve Better: The Long-term Care Experience in Canada and Scandinavia. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Center For Policy Alternatives; 2009.
    1. Banerjee A. Long-Term Care in Canada: An Overview. In: Armstrong Pea., editor. A Place to Call Home. Halifax: Fernwood; 2009. pp. 29–57.
    1. Berta W, Laporte A, Zarnett D, Valdmanis V, Anderson G. A Pan-Canadian Perspective on Institutional Long-term Care. Health Policy. 2006;79(2–3):175–194. - PubMed

Publication types

Grants and funding