Sustaining Care Under Tension: An Ethnography of Pressure and Possibility in Residential Long-Term Care

Please note that this event has moved from 18 February to 13 May.

Ageing populations and chronic workforce shortages make long-term care (LTC) a global grand challenge. The sector faces growing scrutiny as workers are expected to deliver compassionate, person-centred care in resource-constrained, high-pressure environments. Drawing on paradox theory, this study  examines: (RQ1) the contradictory, persistent and interdependent tensions that emerge in care work, (RQ2) how they are navigated, with particular attention to relational and emotional dynamics and (RQ3) how multiple tensions interact across levels.

Based on a nine-month ethnography in a rural French LTC facility, the multi-method qualitative dataset includes 47 interviews with staff, residents, and family members, alongside 224 hours of shadowing frontline workers, observations from 34 meetings and analysis of organisational documents. This integrated approach provides a comprehensive perspective on both micro-level interactions among care staff, residents, and families and macro-level organisational dynamics.

Early analysis surfaces three families of paradoxes: Hurrying slowly — temporal paradox between institutional demands for speed and the relational or ethical need to slow down, be present, and honour the residents’ rhythm; Staying close while letting go — relational paradox between caring deeply and wanting to protect the residents and the need to create emotional or professional distance and safety, and Being seen while remaining invisible — a visibility paradox between making labour and residents’ needs visible enough to matter without tipping into surveillance or erasure.

Currently at the theorising stage, the seminar presents first-phase themes and early insights seeking to sharpen theoretical focus ahead of second-phase analysis and article development for a three-paper thesis.