Working towards health equity for ethnic minority elders: spanning the boundaries of neighbourhood governance
Journal of Health Organization and Management
ISSN: 1477-7266
Article publication date: 23 December 2020
Issue publication date: 27 April 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyses how neighbourhood governance of social care affects the scope for frontline workers to address health inequities of older ethnic minorities. We critically discuss how an area-based, generic approach to service provision limits and enables frontline workers' efforts to reach out to ethnic minority elders, using a relational approach to place. This approach emphasises social and cultural distances to social care and understands efforts to bridge these distances as “relational work”.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a two-year multiple case study of the cities of Nijmegen and The Hague, the Netherlands, following the development of policies and practices relevant to ethnic minority elders. They conducted 44 semi-structured interviews with managers, policy officers and frontline workers as well as 295 h of participant observation at network events and meeting activities.
Findings
Relational work was open-ended and consisted of a continuous reorientation of goals and means. In some cases, frontline workers spanned neighbourhood boundaries to connect with professional networks, key figures and places meaningful to ethnic minority elders. While neighbourhood governance is attuned to equality, relational work practice fosters possibilities for achieving equity.
Research limitations/implications
Further research on achieving equity in relational work practice and more explicit policy support of relational work is needed.
Originality/value
The paper contributes empirical knowledge about how neighbourhood governance of social care affects ethnic minority elders. It translates a relational view of place into a “situational” social justice approach.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Prof. Sandra Torres, Prof. Ewen Speed, participants of the OBHC 2020 conference, members of the Gender and Diversity PhD seminar and Dr. Kai Whiting for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. They are also grateful to all participants who gave of their, often scarce, time to participate in this research. The authors also want to thank Conny van der Aalsvoort, Firuze Sarikas and Jan Booij for assisting them in gaining access to the field.Funding: This work was supported by the Netherlands Scientific Organisation (NWO) [grant number 452-16-008].
Citation
Carlsson, H. and Pijpers, R. (2021), "Working towards health equity for ethnic minority elders: spanning the boundaries of neighbourhood governance", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 212-228. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-08-2020-0325
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited