Utilizing feminist theories when working with older adults in acute care: social workers' perspectives

Social workers frequently engage with older adult patients when working in an acute care hospital setting. In order to be effective in their work, each social worker must be informed by and utilize one or more theoretical frameworks in their practice with each patient. One of the theoretical frameworks that can be used when working with older adult patients is feminist social work theory. Utilizing both a feminist and a post-modernist lens, this study looks at how feminist social work theory is applied when working with older adult patients in acute care. In order to do so, five acute care social workers who utilized feminist theory in their practice were interviewed in order to gain their perspectives on when they apply feminist theory and how they find it beneficial for their patients. Themes that were developed from the interviews include: questioning society-created presumptions due to one’s gender and age, understanding the negative effect of the power imbalances between the patient and other involved parties, and encouraging both patient and social worker resilience to oppression. The themes that emerged from the interviews demonstrate how these social workers believe feminist theory is best utilized in their practice and when it has been found to be most effective.