A portfolio of academic, therapeutic practice and research work : including an investigation of the construction of care and care receivers on internet support sites

Many care receivers feel like a burden and this perception is socially constructed (Gorvin & Brown, 2012). To explore why care receivers may feel this way, the research uses a critical discourse analysis, as suggested by Edley (2001), to examine caregivers' posts on publically accessible internet support sites, specifically exploring how caregivers construct care receivers. Two interpretative repertoires that caregivers' used widely to account for their tasks are presented. These are: care is a family responsibility and caring is harmful. When used together, these position care receivers as a burden and caregivers as burdened. Within care as a family responsibility, there is an ideological dilemma for caregivers as they address the question: when 1 care, who am I? Here, they debate who they are in relation to the person they care for: a caregiver, a family member, or both. Most caregivers constructed care as something additional to normal relating, allowing them to speak of their suffering. Caregi vers constructed care receivers as frustrated and with diminished autonomy. The implications of these constructions for care receivers and counselling psychologists are discussed.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo