Ameliorating Workplace Harassment among Direct Caregivers in Canada’s Healthcare System: A Theatre-Based Intervention

Elizabeth Quinlan, Susan Robertson, Ann-Marie Urban, Isobel M Findlay and Beth Bilson
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Elizabeth Quinlan: University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Susan Robertson: University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Ann-Marie Urban: University of Regina, Canada
Isobel M Findlay: University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Beth Bilson: University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Work, Employment & Society, 2020, vol. 34, issue 4, 626-643

Abstract: The article reports on a theatre-based intervention designed to address workplace harassment among direct caregivers in Canada. The study is part of a larger analytical project that relies on labour process theory and critical realist evaluation methodology to understand what interventions work, how, for whom, and under what circumstances. Using Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, the reported intervention addresses workplace harassment by challenging the normative codes governing social interactions in participants’ workplaces. The study’s analysis indicates that the intervention’s Theatre of the Oppressed activities energized the participating caregivers to imagine, enact and collectively assess new social interactions. The caregivers developed strategies to resist the oppressive relations of their employment and became competent contesters of dominant discourses circulating in their workplaces. The solidarity developed through the bodily sculptures and enacted scenarios elicited participants’ deliberative exchange about workplace harassment and awakened a collective will to carry their revelations back to their workplaces.

Keywords: Canada’s healthcare system; critical realist evaluation; direct caregivers; labour process theory; theatre-based intervention; Theatre of the Oppressed; workplace harassment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:34:y:2020:i:4:p:626-643

DOI: 10.1177/0950017019867279

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