Older persons’ experiences of their relationships with care workers in formal residential care ecologies

This article presents the experiences of older persons (OPs) of their relationships with care workers (CWs) in formal care settings. A total of 21 OPs (aged 65–89) from three settings in South Africa participated in a visual data-collection method, and analysis yielded four themes: (1) the arbitrary division of OPs’ lifeworld into an ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ upon entering a formal residential care ecology creates care expectations and approaches that may be either aligned or contradictory; (2) OPs have not only care and support needs but also relational needs; (3) OPs actively co-create the relational dynamics in the caregiving relationship by displaying effective and ineffective relational qualities; and (4) caregiving elicits a care imprint in OPs associated with the primary caregiving relationship. The operationalisation of caregiving overrides the care philosophy; however, a conducive interpersonal context enables OPs to express their needs more effectively.