HOW CAN WE SEE INVISIBLE CARE?

Dr. Tamara Daly,CIHR Research Chair in Gender, Work &

HealthAssociate Professor,

School of Health Policy & ManagementYork University, Toronto

dalyt@yorku.ca

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How do we see invisible care?

• Invisible care work is provided by students, relatives and friends, privately paid companions, volunteers, and finally by paid care workers who fill gaps in the care needs.

• We need more staff to provide good quality care• How do we see invisible care in the

literature, policy and practice spaces?• How do we see the tensions and promise

of a reliance on invisible care?2

How do we see invisible care?

• Literature: care work studies of facility care focus on paid work

• Policy: with exceptions, invisible care work is unregulated, undocumented and not counted in comparison with paid work

• Praxis: although facilities rely on this invisible care, it is not recognized for its importance as an overarching work organization model

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Teaching Model• Promise: youth and

others looking for new work are exposed to and possibly attracted to work in LTC

• Tensions: extra "hands" available to provide care is unlike the reality of work in LTC

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Familial Model

• Promise: strong family councils

• Tensions: staff feelings of surveillance; family members' feelings of burnout and stress

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Paid Companions

• Promise: residents get one-on-one attention, can attend some additional activities and go outside more often

• Tensions: surveillance of staff; interruption of work flow

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Volunteer Model

• Promise: this model builds on community capacity; helpful where there are language and cultural specificities

• Tensions: attracting, retaining and rewarding volunteers is full- time work

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Staff "Volunteer" Model

• Promise: ??

• Tensions: staff burnout and absenteeism

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Concluding Thoughts

• The informal and often unpaid work performed by students, volunteers, relatives, paid companions and staff exists in different configurations in different homes irrespective of country.

• By spending time in facilities it is increasingly clear that the invisible labour is essential to under-staffed facilities

• Homes adopt one main form of invisible labour to supplement their paid care work organization.  

• Without higher staffing ... critical to care9

References

• Art from Gustav Vigeland, Erica McGilchrist, Franz Wilhelm Seiwert

• Research supported by the Canadian Institute for Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

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