Sensory attunements of caregivers and care receivers: the value of an embodied and emplaced approach in everyday care encounters

Abstract

This paper underlines the role of the senses in everyday care encounters within hospice and dementia care settings. We bring together two ethnographic studies, which adopted embodied, emplaced, and sensory approaches to understanding everyday life and care. We draw on existing conceptualizations of bodywork, and theorizations of sensory atmospheres of care, to extend ideas about the relationality of experience shared between those receiving and providing care. Our analysis illuminates the entanglement of the sensory within care relationships, as we appreciate the ways in which atmospheres are lived and felt in relation to others. We consider the environments and engagements between staff, patients, and residents, which facilitate restorative and supportive connections, as well as disrupt feelings about identity and choice. Appreciating the interconnected nature of care, this paper sheds light on the sensory, embodied, and material practices that shape atmospheres in hospice and dementia care settings.