Homes of the Elderly, a Place to Challenge the Professionalism of Self-Employed Nurses
The professionalism of French self-employed nurses can be defined by the self-determination of their role, in conjunction with their independent status. The article examines how self-employed nurses’ professionalism is put to the test when working in the homes of the elderly. Defined successively as a physical and material place, where self-employed nurses have intimate access to ageing in both the physical sense and in terms of identity, as well as a place for social contact, the home is examined as a potential challenge to self-employed nurses’ professionalism. This article is based on a qualitative survey conducted between 2011 and 2013 involving 53 people who are both professional self-employed nurses and caregivers, as well as the elderly. The interviews and caregiving situations or meetings between professionals have resulted in a two-pronged, thematic and case-by-case analysis, which have revealed that the care dispensed by self-employed nurses can be determined by external factors, such as the physical features of the home, the intervention of other professionals with whom the nurses communicate, the stakes involved in the relationship between the actors and the social visibility of nursing care. All of these elements reveal a form of “hetero-determination” of self-employed nurses’ work (which undermines the self-determination mentioned above), therefore showing the shift of stakes, from the profession towards maintaining the professional link.