A Major Collaborative Research Initiative funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Pat Armstrong, PhD, FRSC Principal Investigator, York University

Who’s Involved  26 academic co-investigators 12 disciplines Six countries  Five union partners  Two employer association partners  Post-docs, graduate students  Community and advocacy groups

We seek practices that: treat both providers and residents with dignity and respect understand care as a relationship encourage differences and equity promote active, healthy ageing Our Approach

Four theme areas: Approaches to Care Work Organization Accountability Financing and Ownership Group members switch for years 4 to 6

Overarching Methods Work organization Account- ability Approaches to Care Financing and Ownership Layers: 1. Mapping 2. Design phase 3. Rapid Ethnographies 4. Data analysis and integration

Methodological Assumptions Interdisciplinary approaches apply different lens Fresh eyes reveal different aspects, collective work central to making this work Multiple methods capture complexity as well as multiple views Those who provide and those who need care provide an authentic picture Attend to noises and silences; open to surprises Some consistency and considerable flexibility

Why Promising Practices? Seeking positive strategies, not single best Context matters, and at multiple levels. It includes political economy, geography, social and physical structures and history Entire range of players matter; researchers, managers, unions, volunteers, family, residents, all employees, representatives of families, residents, workers, regulators

Promising Practices Means Attending to: Relationships among different categories of workers Gender, racialization, class, sexuality Time: time of day, of life, of job tenure; time for tasks Not only physical spaces and community locations but also sounds, light, smell, crowding, art, clothing

And Attending to: Conditions of work because they are the conditions of care Negative practices, asking for whom they are not promising, under what conditions; Recognizing tensions and contradictions within and outside residences

Tensions Medical vs social (including architecture) Home vs institution (whose home?) Regulations vs trust Risk vs autonomy Control vs responsibilization Specialized vs general; culturally specific vs inclusive Large vs small Privacy vs community Ability vs disability Individual vs structures

THANK YOU

Guiding Questions What care approaches support long-term care as a viable, desirable and equitable option for individuals, families and caregivers? What kinds of work organization are most promising in meeting the needs and balance the rights of residents, providers, families and communities? What promising practices to accountability nurture care and inspire quality workplace relations in long-term residential facilities? What financing and ownership models are promising in ensuring equitable access to quality long-term residential care while reducing the offloading of both material and other costs onto workers, employers, families or individuals?