Rhetoric or reality: examining discourses within public policy on the the participation, involvement and lifelong learning of older people using social care services through documentary analysis

A plethora of UK key government policies all cite quality of life, social inclusion and independence as paramount considerations for working with older people using social care. Based on specific areas of the authors doctoral research, this poster illustrates how drawing on discourse theory informed
documentary analysis of public policies as a means of analysing these complex phenomena and to illuminate how language and symbolic media are employed within government policies to describe, represent, represent and interpret these issues. It reflects on how discursive action is embedded within broader frameworks of understanding, communicating and interacting with older people’s involvement
and participation in social care services. Understanding discursive practices through documentary analysis of the policies concerned in turn provided a resource for considering and enacting the potential for change in social work practice. In both the broader context and at the individual level, the
findings were used to generate alternative or new meanings that help to straddle interactions between social care. The challenges of implementing the research method used, particularly in stablising policy data for analysis, is also considered, particularly in relation to how effective this approach is for unmasking policy assumptions and in drawing out practical implications for social work practice combined with other empirical approaches.

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