Abstract
To explore how Australian residential dementia aged care providers respond to regulation via organisational culture, level, processes and interpretation. Observation took place in three provider organisations. Qualitative, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with aged care staff (n=60) at three different levels of each organisation: senior management from three head offices (n=17), facility management (n=13) and personal care workers (n=30) from eight residential care facilities. Orientations towards regulation included the following: "above and beyond;" "pushing back;" and "engineering out." Regulation was interpreted differently depending on the level of authority within an organisation where boundaries were managed according to strategic, operational and interactional priorities. Examining regulation within an organisational context and at different staff levels suggests ways to balance dementia care with regulatory control. Both generate stress, mitigated by culture and interdependent role differentiation.
Highlights
ObjectiveTo explore how Australian residential dementia aged care providers respond to regulation via organisational culture, level, processes and interpretation
Regulation has become the instrument of choice for governments wishing to exert control over a marketised welfare economy and is a common part of everyday care provision.[1]
In Australian residential aged care policy, objectives are contained within the Aged Care Act 1997, plus various amendments which define the standards that care providers must meet to receive government funding
Summary
To explore how Australian residential dementia aged care providers respond to regulation via organisational culture, level, processes and interpretation. Qualitative, semi- structured in-depth interviews were conducted with aged care staff (n = 60) at three different levels of each organisation: senior management from three head offices (n = 17), facility management (n = 13) and personal care workers (n = 30) from eight residential care facilities. Regulation was interpreted differently depending on the level of authority within an organisation where boundaries were managed according to strategic, operational and interactional priorities. Discussion: Examining regulation within an organisational context and at different staff levels suggests ways to balance dementia care with regulatory control. Both generate stress, mitigated by culture and interdependent role differentiation
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