Als je het ons vraagt (If you ask us) is a co-creation of Erasmus University Rotterdam and Theater Babel Rotterdam based on ethnographic research into the experiences of clients, employees and relatives with residential care and home care. It has been set up as a tool to make dilemmas around self-determination negotiable in long-term care.

In 42 video monologues, the actors of Theater Babel Rotterdam play the stories of clients, employees and relatives from residential care and home care. These are not their own stories, but monologues written by Erik Ward Geerlings based on interviews from Erasmus University Rotterdam’s research. Paul Röttger conceived the artistic concept and directed the video monologues.

Als je het ons vraagt was developed from the dissertation of Marjolijn Heerings at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She interviewed clients, employees and relatives and collected data on the tension between values ​​such as self-reliance and, for example, the prevention of risks. These values ​​do not always go together and make the care relationship complex.

‘The care relationship determines the quality of long-term care,’ says Marjolijn Heerings. ‘But there are few instruments with which we can evaluate or improve that relationship. I knew from previous research projects that existing instruments often do not do justice to the complex practice of care provision. In my search for a new reflection method that has an eye for everyone involved, I came across experience-based co-design.’ This method, developed in hospital care, consists of collecting experiences, identifying important improvement themes and working together on practical improvements.

The video monologues of Theater Babel Rotterdam give cause for clients, care workers and relatives to reflect on their own experiences with care. They were used at the Client aan Zet conference and the Carer Conference in Norway. In addition, the films are part of the knowledge squares Gehandicaptensector and Zorg voor Beter. More than 2,900 visitors have already watched the video monologues.

Below you can watch the video monologues yourself. Click on an image to open the corresponding playlist of videos.

More information about the research can be found here.

An article about the research with interviews with Marjolijn Heerings and Paul Röttger can be found here.

Monologues based on experiences in residential care for people with a psychiatric vulnerability or with an intellectual disability:

Clients

Employees

Relatives

Monologues based on experiences in home care for elders:

Clients

Employees

Relatives