Time for changed working conditions within the health care sector

Time and temporality in narrative sensemaking during the first phase of the corona pandemic in Sweden

Abstract

In the present study, we focus on stories about working conditions in the Swedish health care sector during the initial phase of the corona pandemic in the spring of 2020. The study is based on 33 interviews with health care professionals conducted during the first weeks of the corona pandemic. By linking interpretations of narratives to time and temporality in the analysis, we analyze how stories about working conditions relate to managing the effects of the pandemic as well as to working conditions before and after the pandemic. Narrative analysis shows that different perspectives on time are used to support the argumentation in the participants’ stories. One perspective is linked to the specific situation of the first phase of the corona pandemic and the other relates to the work situation during the corona pandemic as part of an, in time, extended context. The analysis with a focus on time and temporality in the stories creates an opening to understand the corona pandemic as an event that draws attention to something more than the work situation right now, namely a critique of working conditions on a general level.