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Expanding the Conceptualization of Support in Low-Wage Carework: The Case of Home Care Aides and Client Death

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  • Emma K. Tsui

    (Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY 10027, USA)

  • Marita LaMonica

    (Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY 10027, USA)

  • Maryam Hyder

    (Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA)

  • Paul Landsbergis

    (Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York (SUNY)-Downstate Health Sciences University, New York, NY 11203, USA)

  • Jennifer Zelnick

    (Graduate School of Social Work, Touro College, New York, NY 10001, USA)

  • Sherry Baron

    (Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment, Queens College, City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY 11365, USA)

Abstract

Home care aides are a rapidly growing, non-standard workforce who face numerous health risks and stressors on the job. While research shows that aides receive limited support from their agency employers, few studies have explored the wider range of support that aides use when navigating work stress and considered the implications of these arrangements. To investigate this question, we conducted 47 in-depth interviews with 29 home care aides in New York City, focused specifically on aides’ use of support after client death. Theories of work stress, the social ecological framework, and feminist theories of care informed our research. Our analysis demonstrates aides’ extensive reliance on personal sources of support and explores the challenges this can create in their lives and work, and, potentially, for their communities. We also document aides’ efforts to cultivate support stemming from their home-based work environments. Home care aides’ work stress thus emerges as both an occupational health and a community health issue. While employers should carry responsibility for preventing and mitigating work stress, moving toward health equity for marginalized careworkers requires investing in policy-level and community-level supports to bolster employer efforts, particularly as the home care industry becomes increasingly fragmented and non-standard.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma K. Tsui & Marita LaMonica & Maryam Hyder & Paul Landsbergis & Jennifer Zelnick & Sherry Baron, 2021. "Expanding the Conceptualization of Support in Low-Wage Carework: The Case of Home Care Aides and Client Death," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-16, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:367-:d:714354
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nancy Folbre & Leila Gautham & Kristin Smith, 2021. "Essential Workers and Care Penalties in the United States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1-2), pages 173-187, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Leah F. Vosko & Tanya Basok & Cynthia Spring & Guillermo Candiz & Glynis George, 2022. "Understanding Migrant Farmworkers’ Health and Well-Being during the Global COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada: Toward a Transnational Conceptualization of Employment Strain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-19, July.

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