Painted in Broad Strokes

English-Language News Media Coverage of Home Care in Relation to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Canada

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21344047
AutoresCynthia Yamamoto (0000-0002-0991-0874, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), Laura M Funk (0000-0003-0411-0410, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), Laura Funk (University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), Alexandra Éthier (0000-0002-8014-1035, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada), Annie Carrier (0000-0002-8890-6098, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada), Damien Contandriopoulos (0000-0003-0238-8101, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada), Kelli Stajduhar (0000-0003-2381-4712, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)
Ano2023
Volume57
Fascículo2
Páginas205-232
Data de publicação2023-08-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Canadian Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0021-9495 • E-ISSN: 1911-0251
EditoraUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/jcs-2022-0025
OpenAlexW4383532775
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas40

As eldercare was at the forefront of mainstream news media during the COVID-19 pandemic, these media accounts may draw on and/or further reshape public understandings of home care in Canada. A frame analysis informed by critical discourse theory was used to examine 56 English-language articles related to home care (March 2020–March 2021). Home care is often “tacked on” to discussions of long-term residential care and is constructed by what it is not, by what it is a preferred alternative to, and by what it might circumvent (i.e., neglect, contagion). Infused with taken-for-granted meanings and linked to population aging and system crisis, home care is positioned as the progressive future of Canadian eldercare. Although home care investment is a common call, at times the gravity of the problem is imbalanced against small-scale individualistic solutions. Inequities of home spaces and impacts on families are obscured, with homes characterized as idealized places of dignity and (relative) safety. Older adults are positioned as vulnerable, passive victims, in contrast to their benevolent helpers. The authors discuss how we can clarify and strengthen political advocacy and public discourse around eldercare without reinforcing compassionate ageism, apocalyptic demography, and fear of aging while recognizing the nuances around receiving care in either home or residential settings

Dignity · Mainstream · Media studies · Neglect · News media · Political science · Population · Public relations · Sociology · Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues · Geriatric Care and Nursing Homes · Law · Medicine · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Nursing · Psychology