Shared agency in long-term care for elderly people: an interpretative framework

• Alessandro Gentile ^[1] ; Carlos Rodriguez-Lluesma ; Marta Elvira ; Stefano Visintin ^[2]
  1. [1] Universidad de Zaragoza

     Universidad de Zaragoza

     Zaragoza, España

     
  2. [2] Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering

     Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering

     Kreisfreie Stadt Kaiserslautern, Alemania

     
• Localización: Crisis y cambio. Propuestas desde la Sociología: actas del XI Congreso Español de Sociología. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología. 10-12 de julio de 2013 / coord. por Heriberto Cairo Carou, Lucila Finkel Morgenstern, Vol. 4, 2014 (Adenda), ISBN 978-84-697-0169-0, págs. 1319-1329
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro
• Resumen

  • Health-care implies many cognitive, emotive and relational efforts from all participants. Shared agency is an integral mechanism of care service related to the explanation of such efforts. It is referred to a range of interactions between the employees (the nurses as care-givers) and the customers (the patients) which make the management of care in health organizations an emotional labor. In this paper, we explore shared agency and particularly its implications in long-term care for elderly. We adopt the “embedded paradox of agency” from Institutional Work in order to understand how patients can be engaged into the care service through the co-construction and co-management of sharing agency in a framework of emotional labor. This mechanism may show how patients may take part actively in care service along with their care-givers. We are arguing that shared agency could be strategic in emotional labor for a better provision of care service and for the improving of healthy ageing.