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Palle StormSenior lecturer

Research projects

Network for work-life oriented care research

The network for work-life oriented care research brings together researchers studying the content, organisation and employment conditions of work in eldercare and disability services.

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Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Gender Regimes in Ontario Nursing Homes

    2017. Palle Storm, Susan Braedly, Sally Chivers. Canadian Journal on Aging 36 (2), 196-208

    Article

    Today more men work in the long-term care sector, but men are still in the minority. Little is known about men's experiences in care work, and the dilemmas and opportunities they face because of their gender. This article focuses on men care workers' integration into the organization and flow of nursing home work as perceived by these workers and staff members. Using a rapid ethnography method in two Ontario nursing homes, we found work organization affected interpretations of gender and race, and that workers' scope for discretion affected the integration and acceptance of men as care workers. In a nursing home with a rigid work organization and little worker discretion, women workers perceived men workers as a problem, whereas at a nursing home with a more flexible work organization that stressed relational care, both women and men workers perceived men workers as a resource in the organization.

    Read more about Gender Regimes in Ontario Nursing Homes

  • Prisat demensteam i Bromma

    2016. Palle Storm. Ä : en tidning för Riksföreningen sjuksköterskan inom äldrevård : geriatriker, dietister inom geriatrik samt alla professioner runt den äldre patienten (4), 30-32

    Article
    Read more about Prisat demensteam i Bromma

  • Care work in a Swedish nursing home

    2013. Palle Storm. Designing wellbeing in elderly care homes, 148-162

    Chapter

    The picture of a traditional care worker is changing.Nowadays more men and immigrants of differentbackgrounds are working in nursing homes. This chapterdescribes and analyses how gender, interacting withethnicity and sexuality, is expressed by male and femalecare workers in a Swedish nursing home. What kinds offeminine and masculine stereotypes occur and how is careconstructed by different care workers? It seems that theintersection between various identity categories, suchas gender, ethnicity and sexuality will create differentopportunities and limitations for the care workers in theincreasingly diverse nursing homes of the future.

    Read more about Care work in a Swedish nursing home

  • Fler män inte nog

    2013. Palle Storm. Socialqrage (1), 31-31

    Article

    Ropet på fler män i äldreomsorgen riskerar att förstärka stereoptypa bilder av manligt och kvinnligt. Därför måste diskussionen om jämställdhet i omsorgsyrken handla om mer än kön.

    Read more about Fler män inte nog

  • Tillsammans på äldre dagar

    2013. Palle Storm.

    Article

    Många äldre anser att omgivningens föreställningar om deras vardagsliv har en enorm betydelse. Men de har också många förutfattade meningar om vad det innebär att åldras och hur man som äldre förväntas att vara.

    Read more about Tillsammans på äldre dagar

  • Teknikens under?

    2012. Hugo Stranz, Anneli Stranz, Palle Storm. Socionomens forskningssupplement (32), 16-23

    Article

    I artikeln presenteras resultaten från en explorativ fallstudie med fokus på förutsättningarna för e-baserad handläggning i socialtjänstens arbete med äldre och funktionsnedsatta personer. Av resultaten framgår bland annat att den personliga kontakten med socialtjänsten tillmäts stor betydelse och att faktorer som kön, klass och ålder är centrala för målgruppens möjligheter att dra nytta av e-baserade handläggningssystem.

    Read more about Teknikens under?

  • Betydelsen av kön och hudfärg i äldreboendets vardag under olika organisatoriska villkor

    2018. Palle Storm (et al.).

    Thesis (Doc)

    Even though nursing home care in Sweden and Canada takes place in different care contexts and utilizes different organisational models, in both countries, the traditional image of an ideal care worker is characterized by femininity and whiteness. However, today, in both countries, the care workforce is becoming far more diverse, with increasing numbers of white men, and non-white women and men.

    The overarching aim of this thesis is to study the meaning of gender and skin colour in the everyday life in Swedish and Canadian nursing homes. The study, based on observations and interviews, focuses on how organizational conditions contribute to creating, maintaining and challenging notions of gender and skin colour.

    The thesis consists of four articles, analysing the following questions:

    How is gender, in interaction with ethnicity and sexuality, expressed by women and men care workers in a Swedish nursing home? How do organizational conditions shape and influence men’s positions and their possibilities to be integrated and accepted as care workers in two Canadian nursing homes characterized by different care models?  How do organizational conditions impact on care workers’ strategies to handle skin colour, racism and language problems in Swedish and Canadian nursing homes characterized by different scope for care workers to exercise discretion? How do non-white men born outside Europe describe their experiences of working in Swedish nursing homes, and what does it mean for them to have a body that differs from the traditional image of a care worker?

    Overall, the findings demonstrate that an interaction of gender and skin colour shapes the workers’ experiences and position in the everyday life of care. The most profound impact is on those who deviate the most from the normative care worker, non-white men care workers. Significantly, the results also show that the ability for the organization to handle diversity is highly dependent on whether or not the workers are able to exercise discretion in their daily work. If these organizational conditions do not exist, there is a high risk that men and non-white workers will be seen as problematic by both co-workers and residents.

    In order to mitigate these risks and manage the increasing diversity of those working in nursing homes, it is essential to recognize the importance of organizational conditions that can create and ensure acceptance and integration of care workers from diverse backgrounds. Therefore, questions about gender and skin colour must be recognized as a priority for management, an organizational matter that should not be left to the individual or the work group to handle.

    Read more about Betydelsen av kön och hudfärg i äldreboendets vardag under olika organisatoriska villkor

  • ”Jag bryr mig inte om de kallar mig svart”

    Palle Storm.

    Nursing home care work in Sweden and Canada takes place in different policy contexts. Canadian nursing homes are comparatively big and the work is oriented towards a medical model while Swedish nursing homes are typically smaller and oriented towards a social care model. Common to both countries, however, is an increasing reliance on labour conducted by immigrant and non-white workers. This paper investigates workers’ experience of skin colour and seeks to understand how the challenge of racism is managed in the different organisational contexts. The study finds that racism is a common experience for dark-skinned workers in both countries and that these experiences usually are silently accepted or excused. However a difference between the countries is that lower staffing levels and lower autonomy for workers in Canadian nursing homes provide fewer possibilities to re-organise work to protect workers from racism compared to Sweden. The organizational model in Sweden, with a focus on social relations, also required proper language skills from the workers. In the Canadian organizational model, where care work was focused on bodily care, the need for and expectations of language skills were less pronounced. Still, none of the countries have strategies to seriously address issues of language problems, racism and the experience of being a dark-skinned care worker in eldercare.

    Read more about ”Jag bryr mig inte om de kallar mig svart”

  • I en annan situation? Erfarenheter av att vara man, född utanför Europa och arbeta i äldreboenden

    Palle Storm. Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift

    Article

    Den normativa bilden av en omsorgsarbetare som en vit medelålders kvinna är under förändring; i dag arbetar fler svenskfödda män och fler utrikesfödda kvinnor och män i äldreboenden. Trots detta finns det begränsad kunskap om utrikesfödda mäns erfarenheter att arbeta med omsorg, ett yrke som domineras av kvinnor och där förväntade egenskaper bryter mot stereotypa föreställningar om invandrarmaskuliniteter. Mot bakgrund av denna kunskapslucka är syftet med denna studie att undersöka erfarenheterna av att vara icke-vit utrikesfödd man och arbeta i äldreboenden.

    Studien baseras på kvalitativa intervjuer, och materialet analyseras ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv som betraktar kroppen som en situation och där levda erfarenheter skapar individens handlingsutrymme. Materialet presenteras utifrån fem teman: vägen in, den ifrågasatta kroppen, kollegiala relationer, relationer med de äldre kvinnorna och männen samt den icke-vita kroppen som utsatt. Analysen visar att både kön och icke-vithet är fundamentalt för att förstå männens situation, men kategorierna fick olika betydelse beroende på situation. I relation till kvinnliga hjälptagare var männen tvungna att balansera mellan respekt för kvinnornas kroppsliga integritet och strategier för att få dem att acceptera hjälpen. När de hjälpte manliga omsorgsmottagare sågs genus som en delad erfarenhet och de ansåg att de kunde förstå de äldre männen på ett annat sätt än de kvinnliga omsorgsarbetarna kunde. Men eftersom flera av de äldre kvinnorna vägrade ta emot hjälp av män blev männens situation på arbetsplatsen villkorad då deras närvaro kunde skapa organisatoriska dilemman. Männen mötte också rasism från hjälptagarna, men även om det väckte ilska uppgav de att dessa kommentarer var en integrerad del av arbetet och svårt att förändra. Ytterligare en utmaning var att försvara sitt yrke inför andra utrikesfödda män som ansåg att omsorgsarbete inte passade för män i deras situation.

    Read more about I en annan situation? Erfarenheter av att vara man, född utanför Europa och arbeta i äldreboenden

  • Intersektionalitet

    2019. Palle Storm.

    Article

    Vad betyder egentligen begreppet intersektionalitet, vad kan begreppet bidra med till sjuksköterskor som arbetar inom vården och omsorgen om äldre?

    Read more about Intersektionalitet

  • The importance of keeping a social perspective during pandemic times

    2021. Kristina Engwall, Storm Palle. International Social Work

    Article

    We discuss the pandemic strategies in Sweden concerning social psychiatry during the first wave. We argue that the omission of social workers’ perspective in the COVID-19 strategy has negatively impacted clients with psychiatric disabilities and has also weakened the overall pandemic strategy.

    Read more about The importance of keeping a social perspective during pandemic times

  • "Yes the Guys Can Do It!"

    2019. Palle Storm, Ruth Lowndes. Teorija in praksa 56 (4), 1052-1068

    Article

    Canada and Sweden are seeing growing numbers of migrant male care workers in long-term care settings, yet research exploring their everyday experiences within this context is scarce. We draw on interview data of migrant men to compare how they come to be in nursing home care work, negotiate their social role, and reconcile and challenge norms about masculinity. The study finds that migrant men work to find a balance and manage tensions related to working in a womencoded field. They attempt to maintain their masculinity without losing their caring approach in both their work and social interactions.

    Read more about "Yes the Guys Can Do It!"

  • Den osynliga utsattheten

    2019. Palle Storm. Ä : en tidning för Riksföreningen sjuksköterskan inom äldrevård : geriatriker, dietister inom geriatrik samt alla professioner runt den äldre patienten (4), 26-28

    Article
    Read more about Den osynliga utsattheten

  • Fieldnotes

    2018. Ruth Lownes, Palle Storm, Marta Szebehely. Creative Teamwork, 81-95

    Chapter

    This chapter discusses the taking, writing up, and analyzing of fieldnotes as part of the rapid ethnographic methodology. It describes the preparatory process the team members went through to learn how to conduct observations, and the guiding documents/principles used by the research team throughout the site visits. We explain how observations were carried out and how fieldnotes were captured in our project, comparing this process to that of traditional ethnographic research. It compares the process of writing up and analyzing fieldnotes in traditional ethnography with the process used in the team-based rapid ethnography, drawing on our individual experiences in conducting both types. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the team-based approach.

    Read more about Fieldnotes

  • Perspectives on Migrant Care Workers in the Long-Term Care Sector Identity Politics and Othering: Identity Politics and Othering

    2022. Gudmund Åtgones, Palle Storm. Nordic Journal of Migration Research 12 (4), 469-484

    Article

    Nursing homes for older seniors are considered an integral part of the Nordic welfare regimes, with a comparatively large proportion of employed nativeborn women. This is partly under change. An ageing population in interplay with increased difficulties recruiting native-born care workers have raised questions of how to approach present and future workforce challenges. A proposed response to this challenge is the recruitment of migrant care workers, both from within one’s borders and from outside. This strategy is already changing the composition of the workforce in long-term care in all Nordic countries and is expected to continue to do so.In this article, we will analyse perceptions of migrant care workers through the concept of ‘othering’, by combining perspectives from management and migrant care workers. Through a process of othering from management, two archetypes of collective identities are constructed: The migrant care worker and The Nordic care worker. These archetypes are both adopted and challenged by migrant care workers. We argue that these constructions entail both possibilities and limitations for migrant care workers, while representing the dilemmas management must take into consideration when seeking to include a more diverse workforce.

    Read more about Perspectives on Migrant Care Workers in the Long-Term Care Sector Identity Politics and Othering

  • Tre träfflokaler – tre olika beslut under pandemin

    2021. Palle Storm, Kristina Engwall. SocialPolitik

    Article

    Tre kommuner, tre öppna träfflokaler inom socialpsykiatrin – alla hanterade de pandemins första fas olika. Forskarna Palle Storm och Kristina Engwall har studerat hur det påverkade besökarna. Ingen av kommunerna frågade besökarna om deras synpunkter på stängning eller reducerad verksamhet.

    Read more about Tre träfflokaler – tre olika beslut under pandemin

  • Managers' perceptions of masculinity and racialization in Swedish nursing homes

    2023. Palle Storm. Gender, Work and Organization 30 (6), 2175-2187

    Article

    Nursing homes for older people are an integral part in most postindustrial  welfare  states.  The  strong  formalization  and  regulation of the Swedish care sector have contributed to a comparatively large share of frontline workers being native-born  Swedish  women  with  a  shorter  educational  back-ground. Yet, an aging population in interplay with increased difficulties  to  recruit  sufficient  numbers  of  native-born  care  workers  has  led  to  Sweden  following  an  internation-ally  observed  trend  with  an  increased  reliance  on  not  only  migrant  women  but  also  migrant  men  as  care  workers  in  residential  care  facilities.  However,  little  is  known  about  migrant men's experiences of care work and the challenges and obstacles they might face because of their gender and skin color, not least when it comes to experiences of being exposed  to  gendered  racism  from  the  residents.  The  study  builds on interviews with 21 managers employed at Swed-ish  elder  care  facilities  in  the  Stockholm  area.  The  results  suggest that both Black women and men to a greater extent than  other  ethnic  minority  workers  risk  being  exposed  to  racism. At the same time, the results suggest that Black men, due  to  their  gender  and  skin  color,  constitute  the  group  of  staff that most of all risks encountering racism in the every-day life of caregiving. Taken together, this points to the need of highlighting how stereotypes of gender and race as well as gendered racism are given and gain meaning in elder care. This  points  to  the  importance  of  not  considering  “migrant  care workers” an undifferentiated category of workers when working  on  creating  nondiscriminatory  and  inclusive  work-ing conditions for all visibly racialized care workers.

    Read more about Managers' perceptions of masculinity and racialization in Swedish nursing homes

  • Hemtjänstchefer om personalens språk och barriärer i skriven och talad svenska

    2023. Palle Storm, Anneli Stranz. Äldre i Centrum, Vetenskapligt supplement 3 (1), 35-46

    Article

    Personalbrist har lett till att utrikesfödda kvinnor och män framhålls som en viktig rekryteringsbas inom äldreomsorgen. Därmed har frågor om språkkunskaper blivit alltmer uppmärksammade.

    Syftet med denna studie var att fokusera på hur hemtjänstchefer resonerar kring utmaningar när personal som redan arbetar i hemtjänsten, eller vid rekrytering, har brister i det svenska språket. Studien är baserad på semistrukturerade intervjuer med 15 hemtjänstchefer verksamma i både offentliga och privata verksamheter i Stockholmsområdet.

    Resultaten visar att cheferna hade ansvar att själva ­hantera ett spektrum av dilemman rörande språkbrister. De utvecklade strategier för att säkra kvaliteten på omsorgen. Det var vanligt att ge en person i uppdrag att kon­trollera och justera dokumentation. Cheferna konstruerade även språktester och fokuserade på informella ­värden, och därmed mindre på formella språkkunskaper. Genom handlingsutrymmet har cheferna förhandlat fram minimi­krav för språkkunskaper, för att kunna anställa och behålla personal, samtidigt som de riskerar en försämrad verksamhe

    Read more about Hemtjänstchefer om personalens språk och barriärer i skriven och talad svenska

  • Naming ourselves, becoming neurodivergent scholars

    2023. Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist (et al.). Disability & Society, 1-20

    Article

    In this paper we seek to restory what has been storied as “the problem of ADHD”. Informed by calls for a critical ADHD studies, we explore the possibilities of ADHD collective autoethnographic storytelling. Together we (en)counter narratives of ADHD. Within our collective writing space, from our ADHD/AuDHD bodyminds, we seek to re-story our ADHD/AuDHD. We map a field of critical ADHD research within social sciences and point out problems of outsider perspectives, stressing a need for insider perspectives. Our data consist of collective authoethnographic writings about ADHD. From the data we have explored our experiences of (En)Countering ADHD narratives, and a transition process which we refer to as from ”broken NT-scholars” to neurodivergent scholars, stressing the importance of ADHD:ers as independent as well as collective agents, and ADHD as epistemological standpoint within research.

    Read more about Naming ourselves, becoming neurodivergent scholars

  • Intensity and Variable Attention: Counter Narrating ADHD, from ADHD Deficits to ADHD Difference

    2023. Hanna Bertilsdotter Rosqvist (et al.). British Journal of Social Work 53 (8), 3647-3664

    Article

    Literature on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has historically come from a cognitive deficit approach and lacked community authorship. In contrast, this article utilises a neurodiversity framework to explore ADHD as a cognitive difference through ADHDers’ experiences. Specifically, here we analyse collective autoethnographic writings from neurodivergent academic researchers writing to one other about their experiences of intensity and variable attention or interest-based attention. Through the process of collective writing, we started to rename and restory our experiences, which has enabled us to understand intensity and variable attention as a valuable facet of human diversity, with both strengths and challenges. This project offers an example of how community-based research can elucidate individual experiences as ADHD/AuDHD researchers, facilitate exploration of varied experiences with intensity and attention and increase self-awareness and ability to give and receive neuroaffirmative support. 

    Read more about Intensity and Variable Attention

  • Arbete under (o)lika villkor: äldreomsorgens vardag, villkor och ledning i mångetniska arbetsgrupper

    2023. Palle Storm.

    Conference

    Arbete under (o)lika villkor: äldreomsorgens vardag, villkor och ledning i mångetniska arbetsgruppe

    Palle Storm

    Inledning

    Den offentliga äldreomsorgen utgör ett stort och viktigt inslag i den svenska och nordiska välfärdsmodellen. Med dagens äldreomsorg i fokus framstår det dock som allt mer relevant att anlägga perspektiv som tar hänsyn till de förändringar som kännetecknar sammansättningen i äldreomsorgens arbetsgrupper. Från att ha varit ett arbete där merparten av arbetet utfördes av svenskfödda kvinnor med en kortare utbildningsbakgrund, visar statistiken att allt fler utrikesfödda kvinnor och män, varav många med migrantbakgrund arbetar som undersköterskor och vårdbiträden.

    Forskningen har också uppmärksammat hur synligt rasifierade omsorgsarbetare riskerar att möta olika former av rasism och diskriminering i sitt dagliga arbete, främst från de äldre omsorgsmottagarna, men även från omsorgsmottagarnas anhöriga. Vidare visar forskningen att det sällan finns några etablerade arbetssätt för hur rasism ska hanteras i äldreomsorgen, inte minst ur ett chefsperspektiv.

    Övergripande syfte

    Det övergripande syftet i denna presentation är att presentera resultat från en studie som avser att undersöka hur första linjens chefer inom hemtjänst och särskilt boende för äldre personer resonerar och agerar i situationer där de får kännedom om att någon av medarbetarna blivit utsatt för rasism eller kränkande behandling utifrån hudfärg/etnisk bakgrund. Vidare är syftet att synliggöra vilka förutsättningar som finns, och som krävs, för att skapa inkluderande och icke-diskriminerande arbetsvillkor synligt rasifierad personal som arbetar i äldreomsorgen

    Read more about Arbete under (o)lika villkor

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