Problematising carer identification: A narrative study with older partner's providing end-of-life care
View / Open Files
Publication Date
2021-12Journal Title
SSM - Qualitative Research in Health
ISSN
2667-3215
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
1
Number
100015
Pages
100015-100015
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Morgan, T., Duschinsky, R., Gott, M., & Barclay, S. (2021). Problematising carer identification: A narrative study with older partner's providing end-of-life care. SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, 1 (100015), 100015-100015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2021.100015
Abstract
Internationally health and social care policies have increasingly promoted carer selfidentification as the best way to target and support people in caring roles.There has been remarkably little research concerning how people adopt the identity. This paper explores the carer identification practices of older partners providing end-of-life care.
A narrative interview study comprising 41 interviews with 20 participants from 17 couples were conducted between in August 2018–August 2019 in the United Kingdom.This paper coins the term carering to denote the
co-constructive practices of policy makers, researchers and broader cultural narratives calling forth the carer identity and the unfolding practices of people interacting with the carer identity in relation to their sense of self.Through three narrative case studies, this paper captures the diversity of older partners carering with three categories defined as engaged, ambivalent and disengaged carering.The carer identity was only taken-up when participants felt that the qualities assigned to being a carer, such as experiencing social isolation and providing
24/7 care, reflected their own personal experience. Given that not every older partner wants to, or will, selfidentify as a carer, this paper suggests that carer selfidentification should not be the only strategy to identify
and support people involved in caring. Qualitative health researchers also need to be reflexive in their use of the carer identity when studying caring-related topics.
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2021.100015
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/330362
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Statistics
Total file downloads (since January 2020). For more information on metrics see the
IRUS guide.