Clientship in change. Client categories and agency in professionals’ talk on services for persons with intellectual disabilities

Authors

• Hilkka Ylisassi Työterveyslaitos
• Elina Weiste Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
• Leini Sinervo Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
• Anna-Leena Kurki Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
• Hanna Toiviainen Tampere University
• Heli Clottes Heikkilä Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
• Sari Käpykangas Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30668/janus.115388

Abstract

The ways in which professionals categorize clients enable different types of client agency. This article examines how the professionals on special care construct client categories in their speech. The data consists of employee interviews. Based on ethnomethodological membership category analysis we found three main client categories. The category of the passive client is receding. In the category of the active client, agency is defined either by clients themselves, professionals, or it can be co-defined. In the category of the emerging client, the clients are seen as agents in their own life, but agency is tense, and professionals look for its boundaries and possibilities. The reform of services for people with disabilities has called for the view of the client as an active agent. Based on the results, this kind of view has gained foothold in practice, but the view is still multilayered and contradictory. Thus, as the client categories direct the professional actions, join discussions about the client’s role is needed in the work communities – preferably together with the clients.