Ethnically profiled nursing home care in Sweden – from culture to lifestyle

ABSTRACT

The paper investigates presentations of ethnically profiled nursing homes in Sweden, and in particular what categories these nursing homes target and what problems they are suggested to solve. The findings relate to the construction of older immigrants and to shifting ideas on responsibilities of the Swedish welfare state. Data consisted of 68 articles from newspapers and journals between the period of 1995 and 2015 that were analysed using qualitative methods. Guided by a social constructionist approach focusing on claims-making, two comprehensive ‘problem frames’ were identified: the language and culture frame and the choice of lifestyle frame. The main finding of the paper was that, since about 2007, descriptions of ethnically profiled nursing homes have come to be included in a broader category of profiled nursing homes such as ‘all inclusive’ and ‘hotel-concept’, within a system that focuses on choice based on special needs, lifestyle and interest. The paper concludes that, although this way of framing ethnically profiled nursing homes works against the construction of older immigrants as a problematic category, there is a risk that the emphasis on choice of lifestyle conceals or justifies inequalities based on social class.

ABSTRAKT

I artikeln undersöks massmediala presentationer av etniskt profilerade äldreboenden i Sverige, med särskild fokus på vilka problem boendena anses lösa och hur deras målgrupp beskrivs. Studiens fynd diskuteras i relation till samhälleliga föreställningar om äldre invandrare och till skiftande föreställningar om den svenska välfärdsstatens ansvar. Data bestod av 68 artiklar från tidningar och tidskrifter under perioden 1995 till 2015 som analyserades kvalitativt. Genom användandet av en socialkonstruktionistisk ansats som fokuserar anspråksformulering identifierades två sammanhållna problemperspektiv: ‘språk och kulturperspektivet’ och ‘val av livsstilsperspektivet’. Ett huvudfynd var att sedan omkring 2007 har etniskt profilerade äldreboenden kommit att inkluderas i en bredare kategori av profilerade äldreboenden med namn som ‘all inclusive’ och ‘hotellkoncept’ inom ett system som fokuserar valfrihet baserad på särskilda behov, livsstilar och intressen. En slutsats är att den nya inramningen kan bidra till att tona ned föreställningar om äldre invandrare som en problemkategori, men det finns en risk att betoningen av val av livsstil döljer eller rättfärdigar social ojämlikhet som baseras på klasstillhörighet.

KEYWORDS:

• Eldercare
• ethnicity
• choice
• migration
• marketization
• social policy

NYCKELORD:

• Äldreomsorg
• etnicitet
• valfrihet
• migration
• marknadisering
• socialpolitik

Acknowledgements

The manuscript was presented and discussed at a meeting with the research group Care for the elderly – conditions and everyday realities and at a symposium with The Nordic research network on marketization in eldercare (Normacare). Useful comments were also provided by the anonymous reviewers of the journal.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Håkan Jönson is Professor at the School of Social Work, Lund University. His research concerns social problems, politically informed images of aging and identity formation among seniors. He has also studied a number of aspects relating to formal eldercare and is currently involved in a project that uses concepts and models from disability studies to rethink eldercare and improve social rights of older people.

Tove Harnett earned her Ph.D. in social gerontology from Jönköping University. She currently holds a position as senior lecturer at the School of Social Work, Lund University. Her research concerns different aspects of eldercare, with a particular focus on nursing home settings. She is also involved in research that uses concepts and models from disability studies to rethink eldercare and improve social rights of older people.

Magnus Nilsson earned his Ph.D. from the National Institute for the Study of Ageing and Later Life, Linköping University, Sweden. He currently holds a position as assistant professor in Social Work at the University of Gothenburg. His research has engaged with different ageing related themes, for example ageing in rural areas, ageing and masculinity, representations of old age and ageing in public discourse and the process of marketization of elder care in Sweden.

ORCID

Håkan Jönson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2347-7656

Notes

1 20 October 2015.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare (Forskningsrådet om Hälsa, Arbetsliv och Välfärd, FORTE grant number 2013-2296).