Home care as a family matter? Discursive positioning, storylines and decision-making in assessment talk

Home care arrangements for older people are coordinated via a client-centred assessment process. This article describes how storylines and discursive positioning are used among older people and their relatives when divergent opinions of care needs are expressed. Eleven assessment interviews were studied using discourse analysis. The results show that relatives and older people advanced three major storylines, and positioned themselves within them with respect to the need for help. These storylines were based on whether the persons viewed home care as an intrusion into daily routines and relationships, or as a complement and support in everyday life, or as a right. The content of the storylines and the ways in which positions were shaped within them illustrate how positioning is incorporated as part of the ongoing reflexive process in interaction in which participants form an image of the older person's needs. Assessments clarify the views of the participants on home care, but they also reflect the discourses that are prevalent in the aged care community and in society in general. The article raises questions about strengthening older people's participation in the decision making process and also whether a new communicative practice is needed for assessments, i.e., one that proceeds on the basis of a broader family perspective.