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Caring as sharing. Negotiating the moral boundaries of receiving care

Sand Andersen, Rikke ; McArtney, John ; Rasmussen, Birgit H. LU ; Bernhardson, Britt Marie ; Hajdarevic, Senada ; Malmström, Marlene LU orcid and Ziebland, Sue (2020) In Critical Public Health 30(5). p.567-576
Abstract

Informal caregiving is increasingly considered a health care delivery-resource within the North European welfare states. While ‘informal’ often refers to non-professional, ‘caregiving’ connotes both affective concern (caring about) and practical action (caring for). This duality of meanings, however, often refers to the one direction in which care is given. Care, we suggest, is relational and also requires that people receiving care are able to or wanting to share their needs. Informal caregiving thus requires sharing. Based on 155 semi-structured, narrative interviews with people with lung or bowel cancer, living in Denmark, Sweden or England, this paper explores how and with whom people ‘share’ when they fall ill. We approach sharing... (More)

Informal caregiving is increasingly considered a health care delivery-resource within the North European welfare states. While ‘informal’ often refers to non-professional, ‘caregiving’ connotes both affective concern (caring about) and practical action (caring for). This duality of meanings, however, often refers to the one direction in which care is given. Care, we suggest, is relational and also requires that people receiving care are able to or wanting to share their needs. Informal caregiving thus requires sharing. Based on 155 semi-structured, narrative interviews with people with lung or bowel cancer, living in Denmark, Sweden or England, this paper explores how and with whom people ‘share’ when they fall ill. We approach sharing as a heuristic for reflecting on informal-caregiving, and illustrate how being cared for or asking for care are entangled with the management of social risks and notions of selfhood. We conclude that informal caregiving should explicitly be recognised as morally and sympathetically committed practices, which attend to the diversity of local moral worlds of patients, their needs and experiences.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cancer, illness experiences, informal care-giving, sharing
in
Critical Public Health
volume
30
issue
5
pages
10 pages
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85067553220
ISSN
0958-1596
DOI
10.1080/09581596.2019.1623381
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
512663e5-2583-4f6c-97f6-834fbc668deb
date added to LUP
2019-07-05 12:37:30
date last changed
2024-02-15 16:08:58
@article{512663e5-2583-4f6c-97f6-834fbc668deb,
  abstract     = {{<p>Informal caregiving is increasingly considered a health care delivery-resource within the North European welfare states. While ‘informal’ often refers to non-professional, ‘caregiving’ connotes both affective concern (caring about) and practical action (caring for). This duality of meanings, however, often refers to the one direction in which care is given. Care, we suggest, is relational and also requires that people receiving care are able to or wanting to share their needs. Informal caregiving thus requires sharing. Based on 155 semi-structured, narrative interviews with people with lung or bowel cancer, living in Denmark, Sweden or England, this paper explores how and with whom people ‘share’ when they fall ill. We approach sharing as a heuristic for reflecting on informal-caregiving, and illustrate how being cared for or asking for care are entangled with the management of social risks and notions of selfhood. We conclude that informal caregiving should explicitly be recognised as morally and sympathetically committed practices, which attend to the diversity of local moral worlds of patients, their needs and experiences.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sand Andersen, Rikke and McArtney, John and Rasmussen, Birgit H. and Bernhardson, Britt Marie and Hajdarevic, Senada and Malmström, Marlene and Ziebland, Sue}},
  issn         = {{0958-1596}},
  keywords     = {{Cancer; illness experiences; informal care-giving; sharing}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{567--576}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{Critical Public Health}},
  title        = {{Caring as sharing. Negotiating the moral boundaries of receiving care}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2019.1623381}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/09581596.2019.1623381}},
  volume       = {{30}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}