The everyday of care work in the Nordic countries: findings from a survey study

This paper will present the first preliminary results from a comparative Nordic research project that studies the working conditions and work tasks of care workers. The data of this project (“Omsorgsvardag i Norden: likheter och skillnader speglade genom äldre- och handikappomsorgens personal”) is consisted of a survey that was in 2005 sent to care workers in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark, to 1.200 people in each of the four countries. The national response rates came out between 67% and 77%. The themes of the survey form include questions about the work contract, work place, professional education, working hours, work profiles, care users, work satisfaction, respect received others (users, colleagues and decision-makers), responsibilities, health and attitudes to reform trends in social care. Furthermore, issues of family life and its reconciliation with work were asked, as well.

The paper will describe the most essential findings of the survey study. It will compare the results, on the one hand, between the four countries but also, on the other hand, between care work with older people and care work with disabled people. So far, particularly care work with disabled people has received minimal research interest. Even care work with older people, which otherwise has been an object of many studies, has not been earlier addressed by comparative Nordic survey research. The findings of the study will be analysed in the light of the ongoing processes of change within the four Nordic welfare states.