In this article, we present a scoping review of the evidence and discussions in the extant literature on long-term care for older people in Southern Africa, focusing particularly on patterns of knowledge production in the region. Findings indicate that while the number of publications has increased over recent years, empirical research in countries outside of South Africa is extremely sparse and underfunded, and there is no clear research agenda. Drawing on a political ethics of care perspective, we reflect on the lack of attention to issues of care and the positioning of care for older people within societies in the region.
This article expands understanding of the experiences of working carers by analysing their care activities and applying cognitive appraisal theory to explore how different resources affect carers’ appraisal processes. A total of 18 carers from the UK and Hong Kong took part in a qualitative daily diary study. The contributions of the article include providing a broader conceptualisation of care activities and considering the implications of cognitive appraisals and resources in the experience of combining work and care. The findings provide insights into future research design and support development.
Patient and public involvement is a way of ensuring that research and practices are more responsive to their target groups. This study, inspired by discourse psychology, explores the knowledge contributions of informal carers who participated in group meetings to co-create a support intervention. Findings highlight that carers’ knowledge is complex, including more than practical caring experiences. Acknowledging carers’ knowledge contributions and involving a heterogeneous sample of carers are key considerations for patient and public involvement in research; otherwise, there is a danger of establishing risks of injustice. Accepting the multifaceted knowledge of carers could increase the validity of research and the relevance of interventions developed.
Physical activity is beneficial for overall health; however, informal carers may have lower levels of physical activity than non-carers. The primary aim of this systematic review was to identify barriers and facilitators to physical activity from the perspective of carers internationally, excluding the UK. The study found that barriers to physical activity include lack of time, fatigue, lack of motivation and lack of support. Facilitators of physical activity include health and well-being as a motivator, using physical activity as a coping mechanism, and social support. Participating with the care recipient and care duties were both barriers and facilitators depending on the study or participant.
Old age is still an under-researched stage in the lives of people with a learning disability. Providing support to people towards the end of their lives can be challenging for services and involves complex ethical decision-making processes. This study explores the experiences of social care staff in two life-sharing communities where adults with a learning disability and staff live together. Four main themes were identified, highlighting different dimensions of care. These included an emphasis on relational care, responsive care and collaborative care, and an acknowledgement of barriers to care and caring that allowed people to live and die within the communities.
Namibia’s lengthy colonial history and current high levels of inequality foreshadow care in the context of poverty and marginalisation, and within families that are diverse and whose care capacities are poorly understood. Focus group interviews with family carers of older people in two marginalised communities provide insights into their experiences of care. We highlight three findings: first, contexts of care perpetuate and entrench marginalisation; second, care is not widely shared within families, raising questions of what it means to ‘do family’; and, third, care has negative consequences for carers and their families, foreshadowing generational replication of carer exclusion.
The article highlights the heterogeneity of employed women’s experience of family care for older persons by focusing on multigenerational households. First, I argue that care for older persons must be understood in the context of multiple family responsibilities. Second, I show that care for older persons occurs in a context of inequalities that remain in post-colonial settings where there is highly uneven access to material resources, high levels of unemployment, poverty and limited social welfare provision. From this understanding of care, I argue that women’s position within wider care relations reveals elements of differentiation between women who occupy different class and racial positions.
Eldercare arrangements are intricately woven and complex. While adult children are socially extolled as legitimate caregivers, ayahs working in ayah centres are making revolutionary strides in Kolkata. Drawing across this context, the article explores multiple essences of lived experiences through which care actors like ayahs, elderly care receivers, their kin and ayah-centre managers produce and reproduce ‘care practices’. These establish ayahs and ayah centres as a social resource for the elderly, enabling them to reflect on their mundane ageing and ‘personhood’ in Kolkata.
