Despite its familiarity, the realities of care are both complex and contested. This book offers a unique approach to scrutinising the co-existence of both care and abuse in relationships. It demonstrates ways of increasing critical reflexivity when working with people involved in difficult care relationships. The book emphasises that when talking about care, we need to care about talk. policy and literature in informal care. Analytic tools are considered alongside case-studies to illustrate how both carer and caree construct their relationship and account for difficulties with each other. the false polarities between 'care/abuse' and 'carer/caree'? How do carers and carees use life histories to explain troubled relationships? What can discourse analysis add to how we make sense of individual carer/caree accounts? How can health and social care practitioners apply these ideas to reflect on their own practice? academics in health and social care who want to critically examine the way that care is talked about. It explores new territory by addressing both practice and theoretical issues, drawing particular attention to the utility of discourse analysis in practice.

This reader provides a diverse selection of accounts of interpersonal communication and relationships in the context of health and social care. Most of the contributions are personal narratives by people using or working in care services; the majority are contemporary and many have been written especially for this anthology. The book also includes other kinds of accounts, including attempts to encapsulate in fictional, poetic and visual form something of the nature of encounters in the context of care. There are sections on changing relationships, the way things happen, the physical context of care, difficult encounters, and working together, as well as cross-cutting themes such as power and diversity.
Relating Experience is an essential resource for students of social work, nursing, health and social policy, and for all involved in health and social care services, whether as professionals, carers or service users.

This reader provides a diverse selection of accounts of interpersonal communication and relationships in the context of health and social care. Most of the contributions are personal narratives by people using or working in care services; the majority are contemporary and many have been written especially for this anthology. The book also includes other kinds of accounts, including attempts to encapsulate in fictional, poetic and visual form something of the nature of encounters in the context of care. There are sections on changing relationships, the way things happen, the physical context of care, difficult encounters, and working together, as well as cross-cutting themes such as power and diversity.
Relating Experience is an essential resource for students of social work, nursing, health and social policy, and for all involved in health and social care services, whether as professionals, carers or service users.