Care in Healthcare, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2018 Reflections on Theory and Practice

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.

This book examines the concept of care and care practices in healthcare from the interdisciplinary perspectives of continental philosophy, care ethics, the social sciences, and anthropology. Areas addressed include dementia care, midwifery, diabetes care, psychiatry, and reproductive medicine. Special attention is paid to ambivalences and tensions within both the concept of care and care practices. Contributions in the first section of the book explore phenomenological and hermeneutic approaches to care and reveal historical precursors to care ethics. Empirical case studies and reflections on care in institutionalised and standardised settings form the second section of the book. The concluding chapter, jointly written by many of the contributors, points at recurring challenges of understanding and practicing care that open up the field for further research and discussion. This collection will be of great value to scholars and practitioners of medicine, ethics, philosophy, social science and history.

1. ‘Understanding Care. Introductory Remarks’ by Franziska Krause and Joachim Boldt.- Part 1:Framing Care.- 2. ‘Forgotten Approaches to Care. The Human Being as Neighbour in the German-Jewish Tradition of the Nineteenth Century’ by Elisabeth Conradi.- 3. ‘Nursing as Accommodated Care. A Contribution to the Phenomenology of Care. Appeal – Concern – Volition – Practice’ by Björn Freter.- 4. ‘Fundamentals of an Ethics of Care’ by Giovanni Maio.- 5. ‘The Interdependence of Care and Autonomy. A Hermeneutic Approach’ by Joachim Boldt.- 6. ‘Caring Relationships. Commercial Surrogacy and the Ethical Relevance of the Other’ by Franziska Krause.- Part 2: Situated Care.- 7. ‘Sociomaterial Will-work. Aligning Daily Wanting in Dutch Dementia Care’ by Annelieke Driessen.- 8. ‘The Dementia Village – Between Community and Society’ by Tobias Haeusermann.- 9. ‘Regulation as an Obstacle to Care? A Care-Ethical Evaluation of the Regulation on the Use of Seclusion Cells in Psychiatric Care in Flanders (Belgium)’ by Tim Opgenhaffen.- 10. ‘Witnessing as an Embodied Practice in German Midwifery Care’ by Annekatrin Skeide.- 11. Tensions in Diabetes Care Practice. Ethical Challenges With a Focus on Nurses in a Home-Based Care Team’ by Pei-Yi Liu and Helen Kohlen.- 12. ‘Caring about Care in the Hospital Arena and Nurses’ Voices in Hospital Ethics Committees. Three Decades of Experiences’ by Helen Kohlen.- 13. ‘Toward a Three-Dimensional Perspective of Space for Humanizing Hospital Care’ by Hanneke van der Meide.- 14. ‘Conclusion – Asking the Right Questions’ by Joachim Boldt, Annelieke Driessen, Björn Freter, Tobias Haeusermann, Franziska Krause, Pei-Yi Liu, Tim Opgenhaffen, Annekatrin Skeide.

Franziska Krause is Senior Researcher at the Department of Medical Ethics and the History of Medicine at Freiburg University, Germany. One of her main research areas is the ethics of care.

Joachim Boldt is Associate Professor and Deputy Head at the Department of Medical Ethics and the History of Medicine and Coordinator of the Clinical Ethics Committee at Freiburg University, Germany. 

Offers a coherent approach to the notion of care that combines theory and practice and reveals their inter-relatedness

Provides a framework of care to be of interest to scholars and students of philosophy, ethics, social sciences and health care

Includes case studies for healthcare provisions of high societal relevance, such as diabetes and dementia