This article examines the gendered effects of the intensification of public sector care work due to neoliberal reforms. It draws on an interview study of Finnish social and healthcare workers to argue that the expectations towards men and women in the reorganized field of care work are different, especially in the case of their emotional involvement in care practices. The article develops a conceptual framework based on Bourdieu's theory of practice and its feminist developments. We discuss caring as gendered, habitual and emotional work and as a lived social relationship that produces different states of autonomy and dependency for women and men. Our study finds that women in particular face contradictory expectations of being intensely involved in emotion work on the one hand and in the efficient performance of tasks on the other, which creates a clash between their habitus and the field of care work. We further suggest that the clash produces social suffering that is difficult to recognize because the practices in the field reproduce and reaffirm the differences in the emotional habitus of men and women.

What is known about this topic dSocial and health care organisations have often been reluctant to recognise domestic violence and to intervene. Social and health care professionals are in a key position to identify and intervene in domestic violence. What this paper adds dThe article illuminates current ways of making sense of domestic violence interventions by health care professionals. Developing successful practices requires a broad understanding of the effects of domestic violence and the challenges it presents to health care professionals. Support and establishing practices at the organisational level are the key elements in building a responsible approach to domestic violence. AbstractIntervening in domestic violence in the health care and social service settings is a complex and contested issue. In this qualitative, multidisciplinary study, the barriers to but also the possibilities for health care professionals in encountering victims of violence were scrutinised. The focus was on omissions in service structure and practices. The data consisted of six focus group interviews with nurses, physicians, social workers and psychologists in specialist health care (n = 30) conducted in Finland in 2009. The aim was to explore professionals' processes of making sense of violence interventions and the organisational practices of violence interventions. Four types of framing of the domestic violence issue were identified: (i) practical frame, (ii) medical frame, (iii) individualistic frame and (iv) psychological frame. Each frame consisted of particular features relating to explaining, structuring or dismissing the question of domestic violence in health care settings. The main themes included the division of responsibilities and feasibility of treatment. All four frames underlie the tendency for healthcare professionals to arrive at sense-making practices where it is possible to focus on fixing the injuries and consequences of domestic violence and bypassing the issue of violence as the cause of symptoms and injuries. The results indicate that developing successful practices both in identifying survivors of domestic violence and in preventing further victimisation requires a broad understanding of the effects of domestic violence and the challenges for health care professionals in dealing with it. New perspectives are needed in creating adequate practices both for victims of violence seeking help and for professionals working with this issue. Strong support at the organisational level and established practices throughout the fields of health and social care are the key elements in building a responsible approach to domestic violence.

This article considers the temporal variations of social and health care workers' agency from the point of view of the social structures and practices of the contemporary Finnish public service sector. It finds that the contemporary Finnish public sector increasingly operates according to market principles and economic framing of time, contrary to the relational understanding of time in care practices. To maintain their sense of self as skilled professionals, workers actively reassess and adjust their identities according to the exigencies of the contemporary working life, but not without difficulties. The results of the interview study reflect the intuitive, habitual and innovative nature of temporality of care practices, but also the constraints that the contemporary, economic-rationalistic temporal frame in working life poses on welfare service work. The results suggest that the question of time management is therefore central not only from the point of view of the efficiency of service production but from the point of view of welfare service workers' exercise of their professional agency.

Violence is a serious problem, and social and health care providers are in a key position for implementing successful interventions. This qualitative study of 6 focus groups with professionals (n D 30) examines the health care professionals' ways of framing a domestic violence intervention. Of special interest here is how professionals see their own roles in the process of recognizing and helping victims of domestic violence. By using Erving Goffman's frame analysis, this study identifies several frames that either: a) emphasize the obstacles to intervention and justify nonintervention, or on the contrary, b) question these obstacles and find justifications for intervention. The possibilities for intervention are further explored by analyzing the ways in which the dynamics between the different frames allow redefinition of domestic violence interventions. Despite the challenges involved in a domestic violence intervention, there seems to be potential for change in personal attitudes and reform of professional practices. The research findings underline the role of social and health care professionals as members of a larger chain of service providers working collaboratively against domestic violence. Implications for practice and directions in policy and future research are suggested.

Social welfare service and health care providers are in a key position to implement successful domestic violence (DV) interventions. However, it is known that DV intervention and prevention work is often lacking in coordination and continuity. In addition, the limited resources, hectic work pace, and changing practices negatively affect the development of successful ways to prevent and intervene in DV. This qualitative study involving 11 focus groups, composed of social welfare and health care professionals ( n = 51) in a midsized Finnish hospital, examined the challenges and possibilities within DV interventions and the adoption of good practices produced by a DV intervention development project funded by the European Union (EU). The results show that short-term development projects, amid the pressure of limited time and resources, encounter serious challenges when applied to wicked and ignored problems, such as DV. Developing successful violence intervention practices requires a broad understanding of the challenges that rapid development projects present to professionals and social welfare service and health care practices at the organizational level. Hence, the implementation of good practices requires continuity in managerial and organizational support, distribution of information, documentation of DV, awareness raising, education, training, and agreement on basic tasks and responsibilities. Otherwise, the failure to continue development work derails the results of such work, and short project durations lead to unnecessary work and the need to reinvent temporary work practices time and again. Short-term interventions provide inefficient solutions to the problem of DV, and a built-in organizational structure can prevent the misuse of organizational and human resources.