Vol. 22 No. 40 (2024): Care Under Change 1
Originalartikler

Care in accelerated cancer diagnostics. : Analyzing expectations and negotiations about involvement of relatives.

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  • Rikke Aarhus
Rikke Aarhus
.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7146/tfss.v22i40.136535

Published 2024-06-25

How to Cite

Aarhus, R. (2024). Care in accelerated cancer diagnostics. : Analyzing expectations and negotiations about involvement of relatives . Tidsskrift for Forskning I Sygdom Og Samfund - Journal of Research in Sickness and Society, 22(40). https://doi.org/10.7146/tfss.v22i40.136535

Copyright (c) 2024 Rikke Aarhus

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This paper departs in the ongoing transitions in the Danish welfare state with more care work transferred into the folk sector. This entails expectations of relatives being supportive and caring in situations of ill health. Research shows that such support and caring include practical, emotional and treatment support but also that caring relationships may be difficult. In the paper, I show how the ongoing transitions and expectations unfold in the diagnostic part of cancer patient pathways by exploring how care work, such as involvement of relatives, is negotiated in the meeting between healthcare professionals and patients.

         The paper is based on an ethnographic fieldwork in the diagnostic part of three cancer patient pathways in which I observed and interviewed patients, relatives and healthcare professionals. Fieldwork took place in general practice, hospitals and in private homes. Cancer patient pathways describe standardized and accelerated trajectories for e.g. diagnostics and treatment.

         In this paper, I suggest an implicit understanding of care in cancer diagnostic pathways, in which the involvement of relatives is necessary for the pathway’s success. This engenders expectations about patients mobilizing relatives and about their contribution. Expectations which patients, for instance, negotiate with their notions of relatedness and the goal of fast and early diagnosis in the Danish healthcare system. While patients decide on who to involve, I suggest an institutional colonization of the caring relationship. Thus, a renegotiation of what it means to be a relative is called for.

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