The emotional climate of care-giving in home-care services

Abstract

The emotional aspects of the care-giving relationship in home-care services are studied, starting from the home-care recipients' and the home-care workers' perception of the emotional climate. Their experiences of the care-giving relationship and the influence from different aspects of the care-giving situation and social processes in the work organisation are explored. Two hundred and twenty-two recipients and their home-care workers in three typical Swedish municipalities were studied. The emotional climate is described with the help of a scale of 85 adjectives. Results show that home-care workers are more likely to experience the climate with a higher degree of emotionality. There is symmetry between the parties in the perception of a negative climate. However, if one party perceives the climate as close the other party is more likely to perceive it as rational or instrumental. The organisational processes, especially the group climate of the work team, principally influence the home-care recipients' perceptions. The workers' perceptions are principally influenced by age and gender of the recipients and the workers' own age. The emotional climate is constructed in a process between the parties, depending on their responses to each other. Tendencies to perceive a specific climate are strengthened or weakened by context variables and this in turn changes the care-giving interaction.

Older persons’ worries expressed during home care visits: Exploring the content of cues and concerns identified by the Verona coding definitions of emotional sequences

“…Expressed worries relate to issues concerning relationships with others, health care services, and aging and bodily impairment. The impact of the care provider and caregiving relationship on positive and negative emotions is supported by previous research [29], as well as the importance of having social support for older persons [30]. We also found that many older patients were afraid of being a burden to others, breaking social ties and losing control over their own life.…”

“Making it work in the frontline” explains female home care workers’ defining, recognizing, communicating and reporting of occupational disorders

“…The strong impact of the work group among HCWs has been described earlier (Olsson & Ingvad, 2001). In the present study, the group's safety culture had an impact on the likelihood of their reporting through the process of ventilating the problem and constructing a communicable version that is either reported or not.…”

“…Financial cuts leading to shortage of personnel and perceived overload have earlier been described as problems that may lead to aspects of ill health (Brulin et al, 2000;Dellve et al, 2003a), and in the present study a perception of ''being a tool in competing interests and deviant resources''. During the 1990s, organizational and economic cuts in the Swedish home care service had a negative impact upon the ability of work groups to cope with their work situation in a constructive manner (Olsson & Ingvad, 2001). To improve effects of workplace interventions, awareness of individual and groupwise grass-root attitudes may play an important role for facilitating constructive communication and handling of work environment problems.…”

Morale and quality of life among frail older users of community care: Key issues for the success of community care

“…Olsson & Ingvad (2001) have described the development of good and bad relationships between Home Care staff and clients in terms of such virtuous circle and vicious circle interactions.…”