Multifaceted boundary work between gerontological social work and home care

Gerontological social work aims to improve the well-being of older adults. It takes place at the boundaries of various services and structures, requiring boundary work, which is based on the negotiation of sites of difference. The clients of gerontological social work tend to have needs that require responses from both social work and long-term care. Drawing on client documents from Finnish gerontological social work, this article explores the boundaries between gerontological social work and home care, and the associated boundary work. Based on the frame analysis of the data, three frames were discovered: care, interprofessional, and crisis, including various kinds of boundaries and boundary work. The care frame involves configurational boundary work, the interprofessional frame involves collaborative boundary work, and the crisis frame involves competitive boundary work. Boundary work occasionally requires the crossing of boundaries that may be based on professionals’ mutual agreement or coercion. To protect clients’ right to services social workers at times cross boundaries, for example, by supplementing insufficient home care services. Boundary work also entails ethical considerations and choices, whether to meet the interests and needs of older adults or to implement demands of professionals or organisations.