Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/6811
Title: Quality and policy in nursing homes in Australia: A critical discourse analysis
Contributor(s): Courtney, Mary Denise (author); Harman, Kay  (supervisor); Pearson, Alan (supervisor)
Conferred Date: 1997
Copyright Date: 1995
Open Access: Yes
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/6811
Abstract: This study investigates the development and implementation of the Aged Care Reform Strategy, in particular, the Commonwealth Outcome Standards Policy and its subsequent impact on the quality of care provided in nursing homes. The aims of this research are to review the public discourse on aged care policy, to analyse the meaning of quality care for elderly people in nursing homes from the residents' viewpoint and to compare the residents' view of quality with that of care providers and policy-makers within the public discourse on aged care. This thesis uses some of the principles surrounding a post-structural theoretical framework, namely, power/knowledge, language, subjectivity, space and normalisation technologies in the analysis of the meaning of quality of care for elderly people living in nursing homes. The framework is particularly informed by the work of Foucault (1972, 1975, 1977, 1979a, 1980). Ethnographic research tools (participant observation and key informant interviews) and discourse analysis were used to collect data. In line with Foucault's analytical framework as presented in 'The Archaeology of Knowledge' (1972), discourse analysis is used in order to derive central themes from the written and spoken discourse. The findings of this research will not only contribute to the understanding quality and how it might be more effectively operationalised within the nursing home industry in Australia, but will also assist in the identification of a number of implications for policy-makers and care providers. It is not the intention of this thesis to evaluate the Commonwealth Outcome Standards program but rather to contribute evidence concerning the implications for policy-makers and care providers in nursing homes, in relation to the development of standards and the future management of regulation for ensuring quality in nursing homes in Australia. Prior to the introduction of the Commonwealth Outcome Standards program in Australia, various standards monitoring mechanisms existed both at the State and Commonwealth levels. Whether the replacement of these other mechanisms by the Outcome Standards program results in the anticipated benefits, this thesis argues, remains open to question. This study examines how the 'rhetoric' of public bureaucratic discourse has obscured the 'reality' of nursing home life as it is experienced by residents living in nursing homes and care providers working in nursing homes.
Publication Type: Thesis Doctoral
Rights Statement: Copyright 1995 - Mary Denise Courtney
HERDC Category Description: T2 Thesis - Doctorate by Research
Appears in Collections:Thesis Doctoral

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