Deconstructing Housework: Cuts to Home Support Services and the Implications for Hospital Discharge Planning

Abstract

Over the last decade, the home support resources in British Columbia have decreased. Specifically, nonmedical tasks such as housekeeping and meal preparation have been severely restricted and are no longer available for hospital discharge planning with elders who are returning to the community. This paper applies analytical deconstruction to three aspects of a case example of an elderly couple: the technical and bureaucratic aspects of who gets home support and what kind, the socially constructed aspects of gender roles and the performance of unpaid labor, and the personally informed aspects that involve an elder's life experiences, social supports, and personal values. The paper then employs a feminist poststructuralist framework to suggest discharge planning implications for social work, using the case as an example.

KEYWORDS:

• women
• elders
• home support
• housekeeping
• discharge planning

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author would like to acknowledge Dr. Deborah O'Connor, of the University of British Columbia, for her kind support and guidance in the writing of this paper.