Le vieillissement au travail chez les infirmières et le personnel soignant d’expérience auprès de personnes en perte d’autonomie : activités professionnelles et cadres bureaucratiques en transformation

This thesis aims to understand how bureaucratic transformations influence professional activity of experienced nurses since the 90s in Quebec in the field of elderly care who dealing with the lost of autonomy. It falls into a deep questioning of the Welfare state, its hierarchic regulation, and its relationship with the private market, particularly the private nursing agencies. Taking into account the unequal deployment of changes implemented in a top down manner, and promoted by economic considerations for a greater “performance” of public services, closer to the living environment of the individual, our approach takes also into account the specific relational dimension of nursing work, which is illustrated by differentiated forms that reflect practice models. Our research finally focuses on the relationship between professional activity and time of retirement.   While taking into account the new nursing role expectations, in which “leadership” and “management team work” abilities are in demand as a “pivot professional” or “case management”, and of the important place of the concept of relational skills in the prescription of new modalities of service, closer to the specific needs of the individual, empirical data is presented in the form of a heterogeneous picture which shows that not all nurses subscribe to this type of professional practice. Age, experience and professional career, position or the practice environment will influence the relationship between their professional activities and bureaucratic framework in transformation.  The empirical basis of this research consists of a data collection conducted between January 2003 and July 2006 and includes: 9 exploratory interviews; 7 semi-structured interviews with retirees, nurses, and nursing assistants; 17 meetings attended by management and unions; 21 direct observations with nurses, nursing assistants, orderlies, and home and social aids; 112 questionnaires distributed to the aforementioned professional groups; and 7 semi-structured interviews, in 4 different organizations from two territories.  Four major findings emerged from the empirical findings. First, the relational dimension in the professional activities of experienced nursing staff and their perceptions regarding skills and ages have contrasting and even opposite forms: while  some believe that professional interactions have greatly reduced following the transformations of recent years and that skills are not related to the age of the  professional, direct observations rather indicate a close relationship between these two elements, and which is illustrated through rich interpersonal relationship. The quantitative data shows, in turn, that an overwhelming majority of respondents believe that the skills associated with their functions are recognized by the organization (89.3%), probably in terms of compliance with the job description, and that they enjoy a degree of autonomy in their work (83%).  Second, results are also opposed in regards to the influence of the bureaucratic framework under the "capacities" or "interest" of experienced nurses to maintain a link to the employment at the date of eligibility retirement: the majority of respondents consider themselves "unable" to maintain such a link while a minority express an interest in facing the new expectation. Quantitatively, taking retirement at an early age is oustanding, especially for those who hold high position and pay (ex. managers).  Third, contrasts also appear regarding the forms taken by the rivalries between experienced nurses, other professional groups and in intergenerational relationships. Even if three quarters (76.2%) of respondents believe that the division of labor should be the result of a discussion between themselves and younger staff, and not an imposition of the direction, almost all (92.6%) want to keep their social benefits even if they know that the next generation of workers will not have the same benefits. Their relationship with professionals working for private nursing agencies is also paradoxical: eight in ten respondents (78.6%) perceive that using their services contributes to increase their work, while continuing professional activities at the date of eligibility for retirement is planned through these same agencies.   Finally, this heterogeneous picture underlines confrontational changes in the bureaucratic framework concerning professional activity that will manifest itself differently depending on the paradigmatic vision of  the nursing staff of their practice. The quantitative and qualitative results emphasize that this paradigm is influenced by three dimensions: the territory of practice, the type of service establishments and the specific unit of work. Management style (traditional or integrator) will also influence the impact of these changes.  The analysis and interpretation of the differentiated influence of bureaucratic changes on professional activity are illustrated by more conflicting reports with administrative and professional authorities, as well as with inter-professional’s relationships. These conflicts have emerged during the transition from a historically bureaucratic framework built on a medical model (cure), which considers the individual as a "chronically ill", and associated with a traditional management style, even authoritarian, especially in some nursing homes, to an approach that emphasizes living environment, a model of support (care) that favors related services to the specific needs of the individual in loss of autonomy, as an "active partner". The integrator’s management style of this latter model will bring the administrative and health care closer, that we find more, but not exclusively, through home care.  A major conclusion of this thesis is the ability to "enrich the basic skills" (Le Boterf, 2005) of professionals when the bureaucratic framework and management style tend to set up a care/integrator’s model, which is a form of "social compromise" (Oiry, 2004). However, the "overuse" of the workforce (O'Brien-Pallas et al., 2005) that may result can explain, partially, the inescapable pull of retirement, from the date of eligibility of nursing staff, even if they then continues then their professional activities, according to their personal requirements, through private agencies. The "cracks" (Laville, 2005) in the border between public services and private market can then only increase, especially as the fifth of the workforce, 14 000 nurses aged 55 and over, are potentially eligible to retired now (OIIQ, 2008a).

Keyphrases: Aging, Elderly, Retirement, Nurses, Professions, Professions, Competencies, Public services, Bureaucraties, Bureaucracies