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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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'When the saints go marching in'
— constructions of senior volunteering in Norwegian government white papers, and in Norwegian senior volunteers' and health-care professionals' stories | | Author(s) | Bodil Hansen Blix, Torunn Hamran |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 38, no 7, July 2018 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, July 2018 |
| Pages | pp 1399-1428 |
| Source | http://www.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Voluntary work [elderly] ; Medical workers ; Memory and Reminiscence ; Attitude ; Government administration ; Social policy ; Qualitative Studies ; Norway. |
| Annotation | This study explores policy makers', health-care professionals' and senior volunteers' perceptions of senior volunteers. It is based on an analysis of two Norwegian government white papers regarding older adult care and welfare services published in 1997 and 2015, and focus group interviews with five older volunteers and 15 health-care professionals in Norwegian municipalities. The study explores those parts of the white papersthat focus specifically on volunteers in general and older volunteers in particular, and similarlites and differences between the two papers. Two dominant discourses were presented in the white papers: a prevention discourse (in which volunteering was presented primarily as a means to prevent volunteers' loneliness and need for care services); and a sustainability discourse (in which the volunteers were presented as instrumental in future sustainable care services). Both discourses echo a common overarching discourse about a capacity crisis due to the ageing population. The older volunteers were positioned as partners and active agents in both their own narratives and the health-care professionals' narratives. Their positions as independent and as spokespersons for the less empowered were evident only in the older volunteers' own narratives. Only the health-care professionals referenced the prevention discourse and capacity issues. The older volunteers presented themselves as competent, efficient political actors, and they resisted both the prevention and sustainability discourses. In the older volunteers' narratives, social and political participation were interrelated. The study demonstrates that new discursive landscapes must be created to capture the diversity among senior volunteers and their efforts. While older volunteers must be meaningfully involved in decision making, planning and design, their positions as independent and active agents must also be ensured. Authentic partnerships between older volunteers and public care services involve a balance between involvement and independence. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-180720204 A |
| Classmark | GHH: QT: DB: DP: VK: TM2: 3DP: 76N |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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