Working life conditions and expressions
Organized uncertainty in elderly care: About quality, conditions for resistance, and staff's willingness to stay
We face a significant social policy challenge as the demand for elderly care is expected to increase sharply, while there is a shortage of trained workforce in elderly care. Studies have shown that working conditions in elderly care have deficiencies that worsen over time, associated with high sick leave and high staff turnover. Elderly care work is also characterized by various and temporary forms of employment, creating particularly insecure working conditions for care workers, subsequently affecting the quality of elderly care.
The project will illuminate the development toward this uncertainty that characterizes elderly care work and its consequences for the staff and the quality of services. Central to the project is the assumption that organized uncertainty has different meanings for different categories of employees based on age, gender, and ethnicity. Furthermore, the study aims to highlight how organized uncertainty in elderly care relates to the employees' opportunities to engage in both individual and collective resistance.
The project starts on January 1, 2023, and is funded by Forte from 2023 to 2026.
Project Leader: Ulla Rantakeisu Other Participants: Associate Professor Caroline Östman; Professor Clary Krekula, Linnaeus University.
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Public Perceptions of Social Services: Opinions, Trust, and the Public Construction of Social Work in Sweden
Ongoing doctoral thesis
The thesis examines the public's ideas, thoughts, and (above all) trust in social services and social workers. It explores what may underlie these ideas and trust and whether they have any practical consequences, both for social workers in their professional practice and for social services as an organization in terms of legitimacy.
Ph.D. Candidate: Kristofer Nilsson
Publications:
- Nilsson, K., & Landstedt, E. (2022). Public trust of social workers in Sweden: A repeated cross-sectional study. Journal of Social Work, 22(6), 1374-1393. doi.org/10.1177/14680173221094535
- Nilsson, K., Egan Sjölander, A., & Landstedt, E. (2023). No clear connections: a study of the association between news media use, public trust, and Swedish social services. European Journal of Social Work, DOI:10.1080/13691457.2023.2266588
Nature-Based Interventions in Social Work: A Study of Farm-Based Day Care with Social Goals
Doctoral thesis published in 2020.
The overall aim of the study was to describe and analyze how day care activities based on farm environments with animals are designed as interventions with social goals, and what organizers/supervisors and participants attribute value and meaning to in a selection of activities. The interventions studied aim to promote health and well-being within the structure of a working day.
Thesis fulltext
Author: Jenny Höglund
Working Against the Wind: Relational and Emotional Processes in Working Life and During Sick Leave
Doctoral thesis published in 2020.
The overall aim of this thesis was to, with a qualitative approach, analyze how employees are affected by organizational changes and other work-related processes. By analyzing experiences from individuals with different professional backgrounds, the thesis aimed to increase understanding of what can lead to sick leave and what it is like to be on sick leave. The focus of the thesis was on relational and emotional processes based on an interactionist perspective.
Thesis fulltext
Author: Lena Ede