Called to Care?: Health Care Work, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work
Health care workers are burned out. Health care leaders know that workers are burned out, but do not yet have the right tools to fix the problem. Called to Care? argues that we can mitigate burnout by examining what is most meaningful about health care work. Using interviews and observation of a wide range of health care workers, Cain shows that workers who care for our most vulnerable adults find their work to be meaningful when they are able to connect to the work and make progress on something that matters. In most cases, these meaningful experiences are also consistent with better care for patients. And yet organizational practices, policy environments, and cultural meanings get in the way of meaningful work, creating burnout. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Called to Care? illustrates that workplaces can and should align meaningful work experiences with quality care for patients.

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Called to Care?: Health Care Work, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work
Health care workers are burned out. Health care leaders know that workers are burned out, but do not yet have the right tools to fix the problem. Called to Care? argues that we can mitigate burnout by examining what is most meaningful about health care work. Using interviews and observation of a wide range of health care workers, Cain shows that workers who care for our most vulnerable adults find their work to be meaningful when they are able to connect to the work and make progress on something that matters. In most cases, these meaningful experiences are also consistent with better care for patients. And yet organizational practices, policy environments, and cultural meanings get in the way of meaningful work, creating burnout. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Called to Care? illustrates that workplaces can and should align meaningful work experiences with quality care for patients.

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Called to Care?: Health Care Work, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work

Called to Care?: Health Care Work, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work

Called to Care?: Health Care Work, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work
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Called to Care?: Health Care Work, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work

Called to Care?: Health Care Work, Burnout, and the Search for Meaningful Work

Overview

Health care workers are burned out. Health care leaders know that workers are burned out, but do not yet have the right tools to fix the problem. Called to Care? argues that we can mitigate burnout by examining what is most meaningful about health care work. Using interviews and observation of a wide range of health care workers, Cain shows that workers who care for our most vulnerable adults find their work to be meaningful when they are able to connect to the work and make progress on something that matters. In most cases, these meaningful experiences are also consistent with better care for patients. And yet organizational practices, policy environments, and cultural meanings get in the way of meaningful work, creating burnout. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Called to Care? illustrates that workplaces can and should align meaningful work experiences with quality care for patients.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781978839304
Publication date: 09/10/2025
Series: Carework in a Changing World
Pages: 206
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range: 16 - 18 Years

About the Author

CINDY L. CAIN is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She contributed to From Crisis to Catastrophe: Care, COVID-19, and Pathways to Change (Rutgers University Press, 2023) and Caring on the Clock (Rutgers University Press 2015). In addition to her scholarly work, Cain has experience as a care worker for children, adults at the end of life, and people with developmental disabilities.  

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: What is Meaningful Work?
Chapter 1: Seeking and Creating Connections in a Broken System
Chapter 2: Meaningful Progress, Situationally Defined
Chapter 3: Workplace Obstacles to Meaningful Work
Chapter 4: Cultural and Policy Obstacles to Meaningful Work
Part II: Possibilities for Meaning
Chapter 5: Unexpectedly Meaningful Work
Chapter 6: Centering Connections
Chapter 7: Expanding the Pursuit of Progress
Conclusion

Methodological Appendix

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Index

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