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
. 2012 Apr;21(2):139-148.
doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2011.00806.x.

Unheard voices, unmapped terrain: care work in long-term residential care for older people in Canada and Sweden

Tamara Daly  1 , Marta Szebehely  2
Affiliations

Unheard voices, unmapped terrain: care work in long-term residential care for older people in Canada and Sweden

Tamara Daly et al. Int J Soc Welf. 2012 Apr.

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to comparative welfare state research by analysing the everyday work life of long-term care facility workers in Canada and Sweden. The study's empirical base was a survey of fixed and open-ended questions; this article presents results from a subset of respondents (Care Aides and Assistant Nurses) working in facilities in three Canadian provinces (n=557) and across Sweden (n=292). The workers' experiences were linked to the broader economic and organisational contexts of residential care in the two jurisdictions. We found a high degree of country-specific differentiation of work organisation: Canada follows a model of highly differentiated task-oriented work, whereas Sweden represents an integrated relational care work model. Reflecting differences in the vertical division of labour, the Canadian Care Aides had more demanding working conditions than their Swedish colleagues. The consequences of these models for care workers, for elderly people and for their families are discussed.

Keywords: Canada; Sweden; gender; long-term care work; work organisation.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Armstrong P, Banerjee A. Challenging questions. In: Armstrong P, Boscoe M, Clow B, Grant K, Haworth-Brockman M, Jackson B, Pederson A, Seeley M, Springer J, editors. A Place to Call Home: Long-Term Care in Canada. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing; 2009. pp. 10–28.
    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: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; 2009b.
    1. Armstrong P, Armstrong H, Coburn D, editors. Unhealthy Times: Political Economy Perspectives on Health and Care in Canada. Don Mills: Oxford University Press; 2001.
    1. Armstrong P, Daly T. Report prepared for the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Toronto: 2004. ‘There are not enough hands.’ Conditions in Ontario’s Long-Term Care Facilities.
    1. Bäckman O. Välfärdstjänster i omvandling [Welfare services in transition] SOU. The Welfare Commission; Stockholm, Fritzes: 2001. Med välfärdsstaten som arbetsgivare [The welfare state as employer] p. 52. Research Volume, Government Report.