How do paid carers enact emotional management through their care practices?

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Carework is embedded within the social relationship between carer and client, and as such relies on the carer's skill in managing their own emotions and building trust with their clients. However, within the rapid privatisation of the care sector and the prominence of efficiency and profits, these emotional aspects of carework have been neglected (Brown and Korczynski 2010). My extensive exploration of the literature on ca rework has highlighted three competing discourses: medical, business, and familial which give differing rationales for care. The contradictions between these discourses can cause an intensification of emotional management for the carer, as it is in situ that their incompatibility becomes most apparent. This research aims to explore how different care practices enable and constrain the carer's management of emotions within these competing discourses. Within the UK, the population aged 65 and over is increasing, with forecasts that it will grow by 44% from 2017-2035 (Skills for Care, 2018, p9). This increase in people who potentially need care, intersects with austerity measures which have decreased the social care budget causing significant changes to who now qualifies for care (Hayes 2017), and which tasks constitute such care (Hebson et.al.2015, Wibberley 2013). Therefore, research on carework is timely as companies are expected to provide care for more people with less resources, potentially increasing the emotional intensity of such work. As domiciliary care (DC) provides care through visits to the client's home, and is therefore 'private', it is largely absent within research on carework (Wibberley 2013). However, as the carer's tasks are constrained by the client's social care budget, DC illustrates the interconnections between the socio-economic context and the provision of care; and is therefore an