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“We Only Own the Hours”: Discontinuity of Care in the British Columbia Home Support System*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Zena Sharman ,
Arlene Tigar McLaren ,
Marcy Cohen  and
Aleck Ostry
Zena Sharman*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
Arlene Tigar McLaren
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University
Marcy Cohen
Affiliation:
Hospital Employees' Union, Burnaby, B.C.
Aleck Ostry
Affiliation:
Faculty of Human and Social Development, University of Victoria
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to:/Les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 5804 Fairview Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, ([email protected])
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Abstract

This article uses the concept of continuity of care to examine the implications of health-system restructuring for workers and staff in the BC home support system. Home support primarily serves frail seniors living in poverty and has the potential to provide assistance with tasks like bathing, dressing, and toileting, as well as offer social support and relational care to isolated clients. Through presentation of qualitative data from focus groups and interviews with home support workers and clients in the Greater Vancouver area, we demonstrate how the casualization and intensification of work in a context of increasing client acuity levels has diminished both continuity and quality of care. This article discusses how restructuring in the home support sector in BC has reduced the overall number of persons under care in the system, disrupted continuity of care, and compromised quality.

Résumé

Le présent article utilise le concept de continuité des soins pour examiner les effets de la structuration du système de santé sur les travailleurs et le personnel du programme de soutien à domicile de la Colombie-Britannique (C.-B.). Ce programme dessert principalement les personnes âgée fragiles vivant dans la pauvreté, et il permet d'obtenir de l'aide pour des tâches comme le bain, l'habillement, et la toilette, et offre aussi un soutien social et relationnel spécial aux clients isolés. En présentant des données qualitatives tirées de groupes de discussion et d'entrevues avec des personnes assignées au soutien à domicile et des clients de la région métropolitaine de Vancouver, nous indiquons comment la précarisation et l'intensification du travail, dans un contexte d'un niveau accru d'acuité et de complexité des besoins des clients, ont réduit la continuité et la qualité des soins. Le présent article parle de la façon dont la restructuration du secteur du soutien à domicile en Colombie-Britannique a réduit le nombre total de personnes bénéficiant de soins dans le cadre du système, perturbé la continuité des soins, et compromis la qualité.

Keywords

vieillissementsoutien à domicilesoins à domicilecontinuité des soinspersonnes âgées fragilesrestructurationColombie-Britanniqueaginghome supporthome carecontinuity of carefrail seniorsrestructuringBritish Columbia
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , Spring/Printemps 2008 , pp. 89 - 99
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2008

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Footnotes

*

The authors would like to thank all the study participants and those who facilitated recruitment, interpretation, and transcription. In particular, we are very grateful to Lou Black for her careful research, to Ann Chambers, Anne-Marie DeLorey, and Darlene Thorburn for their assistance, and to the BC Health Coalition, the Hospital Employees' Union, and the BC Government and Service Employees' Union for resource support. Thanks to the several reviewers of the report of the larger study upon which this article is based. This article is part of the Economic Security Project, a SSHRC-funded research alliance led by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (BC Office) and Simon Fraser University. Ms. Sharman is supported by doctoral awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. Dr. Ostry is supported by a Senior Scholar award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

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