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How provider organisations interpret regulation in the context of residential dementia aged care
Author(s) -
Biggs Simon,
Carr Ashley
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/ajag.12634
Subject(s) - aged care , dementia , context (archaeology) , interdependence , qualitative research , organizational culture , business , nursing , public relations , psychology , medicine , sociology , political science , paleontology , social science , disease , pathology , biology
Objective To explore how Australian residential dementia aged care providers respond to regulation via organisational culture, level, processes and interpretation. Methods 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. Results 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. 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.