An Autoethnography on Being the Daughter of a Frail, Sick Mother in Transitional Care

Abstract

The article reflects on and explores a daughter's experience of being the relative to a frail, sick elderly mother in Norway. Recent reforms of the Norwegian healthcare services have had a major impact on the relationship between patients, their families and healthcare workers. The daughter's experiences elucidate the failure of the primary healthcare service to interact with the specialist health service and the patients’ family. The article has a qualitative design and is based on one of the authors’ autoethnographic accounts. The researchers are inspired by collaborative autoethnography (CAE). The co-authors reflect on and explore the daughter's experiences in order to increase the understanding of the interplay between personal and experiential aspects on the one hand and the social, cultural and political context on the other. The article is evocative and analytical, and investigates critically the ways in which system routines, procedures and practices restrict the opportunities for real user involvement and partnership. We address frail older people in transition between various levels of the health service and explore the opportunities of the relative to voice their expectations for user participation in nursing care.