HOW CAN WE SEE INVISIBLE
CARE?
Dr. Tamara Daly,
CIHR Research Chair in Gender, Work &
Health
Associate Professor,
School of Health Policy & Management
York University, Toronto
dalyt@yorku.ca
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How do we see invisible care?
• Invisible care work is provided by students,
relatives and friends, privately paid companions,
volunteers, and finally by paid care workers who
fill gaps in the care needs.
• We need more staff to provide good quality care
• How do we see invisible care in the literature,
policy and practice spaces?
• How do we see the tensions and promise of a
reliance on invisible care?
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How do we see invisible care?
• Literature: care work studies of
facility care focus on paid work
• Policy: with exceptions,
invisible care work is
unregulated, undocumented and
not counted in comparison with
paid work
• Praxis: although facilities rely
on this invisible care, it is not
recognized for its importance as
an overarching work
organization model
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Teaching Model
• Promise: youth and
others looking for new
work are exposed to and
possibly attracted to
work in LTC
• Tensions: extra "hands"
available to provide care
is unlike the reality of
work in LTC
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Familial Model
• Promise: strong family
councils
• Tensions: staff feelings
of surveillance; family
members' feelings of
burnout and stress
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Paid Companions
• Promise: residents get
one-on-one attention,
can attend some
additional activities and
go outside more often
• Tensions: surveillance
of staff; interruption of
work flow
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Volunteer Model
• Promise: this model
builds on community
capacity; helpful where
there are language and
cultural specificities
• Tensions: attracting,
retaining and rewarding
volunteers is full- time
work
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Staff "Volunteer" Model
• Promise: ??
• Tensions: staff burnout
and absenteeism
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Concluding Thoughts
• The informal and often unpaid work performed by
students, volunteers, relatives, paid companions
and staff exists in different configurations in
different homes irrespective of country.
• By spending time in facilities it is increasingly clear
that the invisible labour is essential to under-staffed
facilities
• Homes adopt one main form of invisible labour to
supplement their paid care work organization.
• Without higher staffing ... critical to care
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References
• Art from Gustav Vigeland, Erica McGilchrist,
Franz Wilhelm Seiwert
• Research supported by the Canadian Institute
for Health Research and the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council
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