Search results for ‘Subject term:"older people"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 2 of 2
Professionalized through audit? Care workers and the new audit regime in Sweden
- Authors:
- MOBERG Linda, BLOMQVIST Paula, WINBLAD Ulrika
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Administration, 52(3), 2018, pp.631-645.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The professionalisation of social care workers is a policy goal in many welfare states. At the same time, professionalisation risks being undermined by enhanced audit. The objective of this article is to analyse whether the audit processes adopted in Swedish eldercare and childcare support or undermine the professionalisation of the occupations working there, i.e., nurses, nursing assistants, preschool teachers, and preschool assistants. In particular, we investigate whether the three main forms of audit—standard‐setting, inspections, and quality measurements—support or undermine the occupations’ ability to achieve professional closure and enhance their external and internal autonomy. The findings suggest that audit processes in eldercare risk undermining professionalisation, while in childcare the pattern is reversed: audit appears supportive of professionalisation, at least for preschool teachers. This finding suggests that audit processes do not have to be detrimental to professionalisation. (Edited publisher abstract)
User choice in Swedish eldercare – conditions for informed choice and enhanced service quality
- Authors:
- MOBERG Linda, BLOMQVIST Paula, WINBLAD Ulrika
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of European Social Policy, 26(3), 2016, pp.281-295.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Proponents of user choice argue that this type of policy arrangement improves the quality of public social services since users are expected to select the most highly performing providers. In order for users to make informed choices, however, they need quality information about the services offered by different providers. In this article, we carry out a case study, investigating whether information about service quality was presented to users of home-based elderly care in Sweden. The analysis is based on unique data regarding the information of 223 providers in 10 municipalities. The results suggest that the information was poor and lacking in important quality dimensions. This indicates a lack of real user power since it is virtually impossible for users to make informed choices without relevant information. It also makes it less likely that the general quality level of home-based services will increase as a result of the user choice. (Publisher abstract)