The Pollution of Incontinence and the Dirty Work of Caregiving in a U.S. Nursing Home

Bibliographic Data

ID7199792
AuthorsLori L Jervis (0000-0003-3288-7198, University of Colorado Health, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume15
Issue1
Pages84-99
Publication date2001-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedical Anthropology Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0745-5194 • E-ISSN: 1548-1387
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/maq.2001.15.1.84
PMID11288620
OpenAlexW2099012506
LanguageEN
Citations received38
References cited31

In U.S. nursing homes, it is the job of nursing assistants to tend to residents ' basic bodily needs, including elimination and incontinence care. Given their frequent contact with pollutants, aides are very much at risk of becoming “pollutedpeople.” In this article, I investigate how nursing assistants' continual contact with contaminating substances impacts their status within the workplace, their relationships with others, and their attitudes toward their work and themselves as workers. I also explore how aides manage their encounters with pollutants and their stigmatized role as “dirty workers.” In doing so, I hope to explicate the meaning of elimination and of incontinence caregiving in the United States, [nursing homes, caregiving, symbolic pollution, incontinence, American culture

Meaning (existential · Nursing homes · Psychotherapist · Work (physics · Elder Abuse and Neglect · Engineering · Geriatric Care and Nursing Homes · Homelessness and Social Issues · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Gerontology

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