ABSTRACT
Most western, industrialized societies have developed systems for providing homemaking and health-related supports to older people who require assistance to continue to live in their own homes (Purkis, Ceci and Björnsdottir 2008). In our present context, one increasingly framed by concern for the challenges presented by ageing populations, the appropriate, feasible and acceptable parameters of home care have been much discussed, particularly the contribution the home care sector must make to ensure the sustainable future of the Canadian health system (Baranek, Deber and Williams 2004; Ceci and Purkis 2011; Coyte and McKeever 2001; Duncan and Reutter 2006; Pringle 2006; Romanow 2002). Yet home care, as a formal practice, remains signifi cantly under-theorized. Though expected to do much-from managing clients with complex medical needs to supporting frail or chronically ill persons-many of the concrete elements and everyday realities that constitute this practice and site of care remain largely unexamined. So although Canada is a leader in important aspects of home care research, with investigations ranging from economic implications (Aronson and Neysmith 2006), cost effectiveness (Hollander and Chappell 2002, 2003), appropriate delivery systems (Hollander and Prince 2007) and the gendered politics of home care (Flood 1999; Gregor 1997) to the recent contributions of human geography (Andrews 2003; Angus et al. 2005), there has been less attention to the micro contexts of home care, the level at which care is created and experienced (Twigg 2006).
