Observing and Commenting on Clients’ Home Environments in Mobile Support Home Visit Interactions: Institutional Gaze, Normalization and Face-work

Abstract

The study contributes to discursive and interactional housing and home studies by analysing home visit conversations with clients who need support with their housing and living in the community. It focuses on the ways in which professionals comment on clients' home environments. The data, which consist of 20 audio-recorded home visits in Mobile Support directed at mental health and substance abuse rehabilitees, are analysed by applying the Foucauldian concepts of practices, normalization and inspecting gaze, Goffman's idea on face-work and the ethnomethodologically oriented research on the meanings of spaces in interactions. Five ways of using inspecting gaze are identified: pointing out, criticizing, giving advice, displaying concern and complimenting. The study provides a critical reflective basis for assessing the "soft" use of interactional power in clients' homes at a time when the provision of services in private home spaces is on the increase.

Deinstitutionalisation and ‘Home Turn’ Policies: Promoting or Hampering Social Inclusion?

“…When workers enter the service users' homes and, hence, do not need to travel for appointments or treatments, disabilities do not hinder the service uptake. It has also been argued that the home space brings a positive atmosphere for service user-worker interaction and communication (see, e.g., Juhila et al, 2020Juhila et al, , 2021Raitakari et al, 2018;Ranta & Juhila, 2020). The home space may equalise power relations between service users and workers, facilitating therapeutic relationships (Kuluski et al, 2017;Magnusson et al, 2003).…”

“…The home space also enables discussions that are relevant to service users' everyday lives. For instance, it can create opportunities to discuss personal issues and memories related to pets and material artefacts, such as paintings and photos, which can be brought into home visit interactions (Juhila et al, 2016(Juhila et al, , 2020. Accordingly, the home space may be more congenial than the office for sensitive discussions and troubling topics.…”

“…Accordingly, the home space may be more congenial than the office for sensitive discussions and troubling topics. For workers, the home space provides a lot of information related to service users' wellbeing, strengths, and lifestyles (Juhila et al, 2020;Magnusson et al, 2003). It reveals what is meaningful, essential, and potentially difficult in their everyday lives.…”

From Home to Community: Reflecting Emotions Related to Mobility

“…Another term, 'home turn,' outlines how institutional services targeting people living at the margins of welfare have been replaced by offering support and services in their homes and communities (Hall et al, 2021). These developments have led to the increased prevalence of working practices that focus on floating or mobile support (e.g., Juhila, Holmberg, et al, 2020;Ranta & Juhila, 2020). As a whole, community-based ser-vices and 'home turn' are generally seen as responses to critiques targeted at large mental health and residential institutions, as well as office-based services (e.g., Hall et al, 2021).…”

Transforming Subjectivities:

“…However, the worker continues suspecting that there is still something to be done about the bedding, and she grounds this suspicion with her observation of a ' sweaty and dirty pillowcase' ( see Juhila et al 2022). Nina gives a minimal response (' yeah') to this comment, which is followed by the worker's direct advice, which again includes a normative recommendation: ' You could put them into the wash.…”