Gendered Processes in Hospice Palliative Home Care for Seniors With Cancer and Their Family Caregivers.
There has been limited investigation into the processes that shape gender (in)equities in hospice palliative home care. As part of a larger critical ethnographic study, we examined how and why gender relations occur in this context. Using a critical feminist lens, we conducted in-depth interviews with clients living with terminal cancer, their family caregivers and primary nurses; observations of agency home visits; and review of institutional documents. A gender-based analysis revealed that gender enactments of Regulating Gender Relations were legitimized through ideological processes of Normalizing Gender Relations and Equalizing Gender Relations (Re)produced through institutional discourses of individualism and egalitarianism, these gendered processes both advantaged and disadvantaged men and women in hospice palliative home care. Findings suggest that to promote equity, health care providers and policy makers must attend to gender as a prevalent social determinant of health and health care. Implications for policy, practice, education, and research are discussed.
Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada nsutherl@lakeheadu.ca.
Nisha
N
Sutherland
Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Catherine
C
Ward-Griffin
Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Carol
C
McWilliam
University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Kelli
K
Stajduhar
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D017028:Caregivers; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006699:Home Care Services; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods; D012737:Sex Factors; D064890:Social Determinants of Health
Canada; cancer; caregivers; critical ethnography; critical feminist lens; equity; gender relations; hospice palliative home care; qualitative; seniors