Constructing a regime of truth to support palliative care at risk

Abstract

For decades, Finland, along with many other European countries, has applied austerity politics in which especially the female-dominated spheres of life, such as long-term care, have been the targets of savings. In this societal context, a hospice focusing on particularly demanding palliative care was at risk of redundancies. The article illustrates how a local regime of truth about the hospice was discursively constructed, supported and contested in an influential Finnish newspaper. A regime of truth is formed when a certain discourse becomes dominant, in this case, the good work done in the hospice and the need for its continuity. The data consist of newspaper articles covering the topic of the redundancies that the hospice was facing. The discourse analysis reveals three main gendered discourses: professionalism, de-medicalisation and de-institutionalisation. Professionalism stems from the masculine field of medicine, and the two latter discourses align with female-dominated long-term care, which are located lower in hierarchies of care.