Contract care in dentistry: sense-making of the concept and in practice when multiple institutional logics are at play.
In 2009 contract dental care was introduced into Sweden's Public Dental Service under a programme called Dental Care for Health (DCH). Previous research has revealed a possible dilemma whereby dental care professionals had the role of insurance agent foisted upon them, as they were assigned the task of 'selling contracts'. Using qualitative interviews, this study explores how these professionals make sense of contract dental care today. Drawing on the concepts of occupational and organisational professionalism, in combination with the institutional logics perspective, we discern that dental care professionals are entangled in multiple rationalities when reasoning about and dealing with DCH. A professional logic comes into play over health issues and preventive care, while market and corporate logics are present in relation to selling contracts and taking responsibility for the financial aspects of DCH, all of which creates tensions in these professionals. Overall, dental care professionals in the welfare sector respond both to an organisational and an occupational professionalism.
Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Ylva
Y
Ulfsdotter Eriksson
Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Karin
K
Berg
Institute of Odontology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Ulla Wide
UW
Boman
Institute of Odontology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Magnus
M
Hakeberg
D032982:Contracts / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000941:ethics; D006801:Humans; D008128:Logic; D017146:Models, Organizational; D000068616:Professionalism / Q000941:ethics; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013548:Sweden
contract dental care; dental care professionals; institutional logics; organisational and occupational professionalism