Grenzen aan samenwerking: Kansen en dilemma’s bij zorg en ondersteuning door mantelzorgers en beroepskrachten
Wish or Boundary: Opportunities and Dilemmas in Collaboration Between Informal Caregivers and Care Professionals
It seems so simple. A happy resident makes everyone happy. Informal caregivers and care professionals should be able to achieve that shared goal in unison. Such good collaboration promises much. Care recipients receive personal attention, care professionals more job satisfaction, and informal caregivers recognition.
However, reality is challenging; collaboration between informal caregivers and care providers is fraught with tension.
In her inaugural lecture, Professor Hennie Boeije, Professor of Organization of (Informal) Care and Support, reflects on the relationship between these two ‘types of care’ over the past decades and outlines three forms of boundary work: competitive, cooperative, and configuring boundary work. Based on this, she describes the opportunities and dilemmas regarding collaboration in policy and practice.
Her advice: ‘In policy and practice, pay attention to boundary work, because it reveals how informal caregivers and care providers deal with tension in collaboration and how their strategies can have unintended effects.’ It shows why they do or do not enter into cooperation.’