Stockholms universitet

Rebecka StrandellUniversitetslektor

Om mig

Socionom och Fil.dr. i socialt arbete. Min forskning fokuserar främst på olika äldreomsorgsfrågor och villkor för omsorgspersonal ur ett vardags- socialpolitiskt- och genusperspektiv.

Disputerade hösten 2022 på en avhandling om arbetssituationen i den svenska hemtjänsten "Omsorgsarbete i hemtjänsten - förändringar, utmaningar och möjligheter". I avhandlingen relateras personalens erfarenheter till de förändringsprocesser som kännetecknar äldreomsorgen som välfärdstjänst. Avhandlingen visar på vikten av att analysera omsorgspersonalens situation från ett multidimensionellt perspektiv. Ett sådant angreppssätt kan bidra till mer komplexa analyser av ett mångfacetterat arbetet och fungera som en utgångspunkt för förbättringar. 

 

Mobiltelefon: 0737-153082

 

Undervisning

Kunskapsproduktion i socialt arbete, 7.5 hp

Kvantitativ metod, 7.5 hp

Välfärdsstaten I, 7.5 hp

Välfärdsstaten II, 7.5 hp

Socialt arbete: Äldre personer och personer med funktionsnedsättning, 7.5 hp, grundnivå

Socialt arbete med äldre personer: professionella arbetsmetoder och förhållningssätt, 7.5 hp, avancerad nivå

Swedish model, Social work in the Swedish welfare state, 12 hp, avancerad nivå

Handledning av kandidatuppsatser

Forskning

Forskar om äldreomsorgsfrågor och villkor för omsorgspersonal ur ett vardags- socialpolitiskt- och genusperspektiv. Mina forsknings baseras på både kvantitativ och kvalitativ data i form av enkätstudier, enskilda intervjuer och gruppintervjuer. Bland annat deltog jag i genomförandet av 2015 års Nordcare-studie som behandlade arbetssituationen för omsorgspersonal i Danmark, Finland, Norge och Sverige. 

Deltar i ett internationellt forskningsprojekt lett av professor Pat Armstrong, York University - Learning from the pandemic? Planning for a long-term care labour force. SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada).

 

Forskningsprojekt

Publikationer

I urval från Stockholms universitets publikationsdatabas

  • Care workers under pressure - A comparison of the work situation in Swedish home care 2005 and 2015

    2020. Rebecka Strandell. Health & Social Care in the Community 28 (1), 137-147

    Artikel

    As in many Western countries, eldercare services in Sweden have changed dramatically over recent decades. Population ageing, ageing-in-place policies, pressures to contain costs and organisational reforms linked to New Public Management are challenging public home care. There is, however, limited knowledge about how the job content and working conditions have changed in the Swedish home care across this period. This article aims to analyse and compare the work situation in the Swedish home care in 2005 and 2015. The analysis is based on the international Nordcare survey and draws on the subsample of respondents working in Swedish home care 2005 and 2015 (n = 371). The data were analysed with bivariate and multivariate methods. The results suggest that, overall, the work situation of home-care workers was worse in 2015 compared to 2005. For example, those surveyed in 2015 reported meeting a larger number of clients per day, receiving less support from their supervisors, and having less time to discuss difficult situations with colleagues and considerably less scope to affect the planning of their daily work. Care workers in 2015 were also more mentally exhausted than those surveyed in 2005. In addition, the workers in 2015 experienced an accumulation of work-related problems. Deteriorating working conditions could be related to cutbacks and organisational reforms, and evidence suggests that home-care workers are paying a high price for ageing-in-place policies. Improvements of the work situation in home care are necessary not only to ensure the quality of care for older people, but also to ensure workers' well-being and to recruit and retain care workers, and thus, to meet the future needs for home care in an ageing society.

    Läs mer om Care workers under pressure - A comparison of the work situation in Swedish home care 2005 and 2015
  • RUT-en nödvändig lyx

    2012. Rebecka Falk (et al.).

    The aim of this thesis was to study elderly people’s experiences of and approach to their usage of home care services with tax deduction. The aim was also to describe how elderly people reason about their underlying motives of using home care service with tax deduction. The study is based on six qualitative interviews with people between the ages of 65 and 80, living in Nacka, Sweden. This thesis is a collaboration with Stiftelsen Stockholms läns Äldrecentrum/ Stockholm Gerontology Center and part of their follow up study concerning simplified administration for elderly people applying for home care services in Nacka. The theory of rational choice was used in the analysis of the results. The primary results showed that elderly people’s usage of home care services with tax deduction was limited though regular and consist mainly of basic domestic work. The overall experiences of using home care services with tax deduction were positive and described in terms of satisfaction and as a possibility of independence and influence regarding their needs of services and how they were executed. The results indicate that the usage of home care services with tax deduction is partly based on elderly people’s lack of confidence in publicly-financed elderly care. Due to the distrust in elderly care and the self-determing factors home care services with tax deduction generated, their choice of using home care services with tax deduction seemed more appealing than publicly-financed home care services. 

    Läs mer om RUT-en nödvändig lyx
  • Omsorgsarbete i hemtjänsten: – förändringar, utmaningar och möjligheter

    2022. Rebecka Strandell.

    Avhandling (Dok)

    The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the work situation in Swedish homecare from the perspective of care workers. In recent decades, the eldercare sector has faced challenges related to organisational changes and difficulties with retaining and recruiting staff. Due to an ageing population, increasing needs for care and a decline in residential care there has been an increased focus on ageing-in-place policies. Homecare is thus an increasingly important part of eldercare, both in Sweden and in other Western countries.

    The thesis consists of four studies that explore and analyse different aspects of the work situation in Swedish homecare. The empirical material consists of both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative part of the thesis derives from survey-data (Nordcare) from 2005 and 2015, whilst the qualitative material consists of 11 group interviews with 64 homecare workers. Theoretically, the thesis draws upon feminist perspectives on care work. In order to deepen the analysis of the work situation in homecare, the thesis joins work-life oriented research with feminist care research. The results are related to and analysed against the backdrop of recent structural changes and reorganisations in the eldercare sector.

    Study I shows that the work situation in Swedish home care has deteriorated between 2005 and 2015, both regarding intensification of work and the occurrence of work-related problems. For example, workers in 2015 reported meeting a larger number of recipients per day, receiving less support from their supervisor and colleagues, and having considerably less autonomy to affect the planning of their daily work. Study II illustrates geographical differences regarding homecare workers experiences of their work situation. Staff in larger cities experience worse working conditions and more mental strain, but better employments conditions, work-time arrangements and work-life balance, compared to those working in rural areas. Study III shows that homecare workers in Sweden experience a high level of multidimensional precariousness, and that several of the problematic working conditions are associated with physical strain, mental strain, poor work-life balance and considerations to quit the job. The main results of study IV are that the workers attribute their experiences of time pressure to the compression of time, the control of time and the unpredictability of time. Strategies adopted by the workers to handle time pressure include working unpaid hours, maximising efficiency, and reallocating time. Thus, the workers mainly adopt individual and short-term strategies to deal with time pressure, with potential negative consequences for both the workers and the care recipients.

    Overall, this thesis shows that the work situation in Swedish homecare has deteriorated over time and is characterised by several problematic employment- and working conditions, over a range of dimensions, with negative consequences for the workers’ health and wellbeing. The accumulation of work-related problems and multidimensional precariousness experienced by the workers strongly indicate that there is no easy solution to the issues experienced by the homecare workers, calling for wide-ranging political and organisational responses.

    Läs mer om Omsorgsarbete i hemtjänsten
  • 'It's always a battle against time'. Experiencing and handling temporal conditions in homecare work

    2022. Rebecka Strandell. International Journal of Social Welfare

    Artikel

    In most Western countries, the eldercare sector has undergone transformations to obtain cost containment and more efficient service provision, changing the temporal framing of homecare. Time pressure is a salient issue in homecare, but little is known about how homecare workers experience the temporal conditions of their work. Based on 13 group interviews with homecare workers in Sweden, this study examined how the staff experience temporal conditions and handle time pressure in their everyday work in a context of marketisation and increased use of 'information and communication technology'. The analysis showed that the workers attributed their experiences of time pressure to the compression of time, the control of time and the unpredictability of time. Strategies adopted to handle time pressure included working unpaid hours, maximising efficiency and reallocating time. It is concluded that the homecare workers primarily adopted individual short-term strategies to deal with structural and organisational temporal issues.

    Läs mer om 'It's always a battle against time'. Experiencing and handling temporal conditions in homecare work
  • Dimensions of job precariousness and associations with workers’ health and well-being in Swedish homecare

    2021. Rebecka Strandell, Anneli Stranz. International Journal of Care and Caring, 1-20

    Artikel

    Although international research has shown an increase in precarious work in recent decades, few of these studies have been devoted to paid care work. This article joins feminist research on care work with work–life balance-oriented research on precarious work to study the work situation of Swedish homecare workers. The results show a high prevalence of multidimensional precariousness among the care workers and reveal how several indicators of job precariousness are associated with physical and mental strain, poor work–life balance, and intentions to quit the job, including time pressure, lack of job control and limited possibilities to develop and use skills, as well as to create and keep relations with users.

    Läs mer om Dimensions of job precariousness and associations with workers’ health and well-being in Swedish homecare
  • Hemtjänst i den uppåtgående solens land

    2019. Rebecka Strandell. Äldre i Centrum : tidskrift för aktuell äldreforskning (2), 56-63

    Artikel

    I Japan räknar en dator ut vilken nivå av äldreomsorg en person är berättigad till. Men den mänskliga kontakten med hemtjänstens personal spelar fortfarande en stor roll för åldrande japaner. 

    Läs mer om Hemtjänst i den uppåtgående solens land
  • Lika olika hemtjänst: Omsorgspersonalens arbetssituation i stad och land

    2018. Rebecka Strandell. Äldreomsorger i Sverige, 137-152

    Kapitel
    Läs mer om Lika olika hemtjänst

Visa alla publikationer av Rebecka Strandell vid Stockholms universitet