Conceptualising Body Work in Health and Social Care

Abstract

Body work is a central activity in the practice of many workers in the field of health and social care. This article provides an introduction to the concept of body work -paid work on the bodies of others -and demonstrates its importance for understanding the activities of health and social care workers. Providing an overview of existing research on body work, it shows the manifold ways in which this can inform the sociology of health and illness -whether through a micro-social focus on the inter-corporeal aspects of work in health and social care, or through elucidating our understanding of the times and spaces of work, or through highlighting the relationship between mundane body work and the increasingly global movements of bodies, workers and those worked-upon. The article shows how understanding work undertaken on the bodies of others as 'body work' provides a mechanism for relating work in the sphere of health and social care to that in other sectors, opening up new avenues for research.

Understanding patient and relative/carer experience of hip fracture in acute care: A qualitative study protocol

“…The process of analysis will be on-going throughout recruitment allowing researchers to build up a gradual picture of the experience of having a fractured hip. Reading and re-reading of the transcripts will help to familiarise the researcher with the data (van Manen, 1990). …”

“…This idea is helpful in the iterative process of analysis when moving back and forth between different aspects and meanings within the participant's experience, all of which relate to one another (Smith et al, 2009). The analysis will develop what (van Manen, 1990) identifies as 'structures of experience' (p90). They capture important meanings across participants in relation to the research question, and represent some level of patterned response or meaning across a data set (Braun & Clarke, 2006) Data from patients and relatives/carers will be analyzed separately but there will also be an awareness of the relationships between the data sets.…”

“…The emphasis is on the world as lived by the person. Hermeneutical phenomenology allows exploration of how participants come to know and understand the world through their embodied experience within a wider historical and social context (Laverty, 2003;van Manen, 1990). Two methods will be used in this study: semi-structured interviews and participant observation.…”

“…This technique allows the researcher to have longer and closer contact with patients in order to deepen understanding of the explicit and tacit aspects of their experience (Bryman, 2015). Close observation involves an approach that is similar to being a relative/visitor while retaining a hermeneutic alertness to situations that allows the researcher to constantly step back and reflect on their meanings (van Manen, 1990). Each observation session will normally take up to four hours according to the activities taking place on the ward and the patient's wishes.…”

“…Moreover, carers often described the hospital setting and procedures as uninviting and expressed their discontent with the lack of information they received (Giosa et al, 2014). Furthermore, it is well known that the physical, psychosocial and economic impact of caring for family members is higher in women who, due to their gendered roles, continue bearing the overwhelming responsibility for home and long term provision of care services (Navaie-Valiser, 2002;Paoletti, 2002;Pinquart & Sorensen, 2006;Twigg et al, 2011). Some studies identified that carer's burden and needs change during different phases of recovery (Giosa et al, 2014).…”