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In this comparative chapter, family members’ engagement in nursing home care in Ontario, Canada and Stockholm, Sweden are explored during Covid-19. The pandemic severely impacted residents, and accentuated pre-existing structural issues. In Ontario, families, who often fill in care gaps, were suddenly banned from nursing homes. Severe staffing shortages created gaps in care and communication issues, leaving families extremely worried about their relatives’ health and safety: family members collectively advocated for resident information, policy clarification and re-entry. In Sweden, although families were also denied access, higher staffing levels and a system of key contact persons meant more trust in care quality and better communication between homes and families. Moving forward, in both jurisdictions, families must be involved in resident care policies. In Ontario, improved staffing levels would allow for relational engagement with residents and families, and enable families to be involved in meaningful ways rather than filling in care gaps.

In this chapter, we show how state policies and the structural features of formal care systems in Sweden and Ontario, Canada, shape family members’ unpaid care work for relatives in the lead-up to admission to a nursing home. This unpaid work includes the navigation and advocacy work required to seek, apply for and enter nursing home care. We also show how the entry of their relatives to nursing home care changes family members’ unpaid care work in these two jurisdictions.

Nursing homes for seniors are an integral part of the Canadian and Swedish welfare states; however, daily work takes place within different organisational contexts. In contrast to Sweden, Canadian nursing homes are larger, have lower staffing levels and are oriented towards a medical care model. In both countries, shaped by staffing shortages, there are more racialised workers employed in the care sector. Earlier research has noted how racialised staff might be exposed to racism from residents. In this study, we explore care workers’ experiences of racism and their perceptions of how racism is managed in the different organisational contexts.

Canada and Sweden are seeing growing numbers of migrant male care workers in long-term care settings, yet research exploring their everyday experiences within this context is scarce. We draw on interview data of migrant men to compare how they come to be in nursing home care work, negotiate their social role, and reconcile and challenge norms about masculinity. The study finds that migrant men work to find a balance and manage tensions related to working in a womencoded field. They attempt to maintain their masculinity without losing their caring approach in both their work and social interactions.