Changing care: practitioners’ work values and practices in a Dutch elderly care residence

Abstract

Elderly care in the Netherlands has changed in the past decade, particularly through an increased emphasis on self-reliance, and practitioners may use technology is more often. This qualitative study assesses the professional identity and everyday work practices of practitioners in elderly care, in the context of these changes. Nine practitioners and two managers from a formal care institution in Bergen Op Zoom were interviewed. Findings indicate that practitioners felt positively about the increased self-reliance and use of technology, as these changes contributed to what they valued most: improving quality of life of elderly residents. However, they remarked that technology did not inherently alleviate their workload, and they experienced increased workload due to lack of staffing, non-care tasks, plus heavier care needs in formal care with less informal carers. These findings suggest that changes in the field are not always seen as negative, if they match practitioners’ values. Still, recent changes may not have alleviated workload, possibly due to insufficient coordination between informal and formal carers to divide it.