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This article presents what we regard as the primary topics of concern for a feminist policy on ageing (including care and caring), derived from the results of a collaborative study undertaken in the Basque Country. The data were gathered through meetings with eight equality specialists from Women’s Houses in the region and interviews with a total of 42 older women. Our analysis shows that one of the biggest challenges is identifying strategies for articulating these topics, making them more visible and increasing societal awareness. To that end, it is necessary to analyse the intersections between age and gender.
This article compares community services provided to older adults living in Bergen, Norway, and Toronto, Canada. We investigate the gaps that are left unattended in the respective jurisdictions and consequently maintained by the organizations. Our findings reveal the importance of community organizations in positively influencing the initial transition from independence to needing more supports. Our findings show differences between the jurisdictions in the experiences of care gaps for diverse groups of providers and clients, while the overall importance of community organizations for older adults is shared in both jurisdictions, particularly by filling gaps between the formal and informal care systems.
How are problems of family/friend care framed and politicized, and with what socio-political implications? This feminist rhetorical analysis examines how carers are positioned, how problems and solutions of care are framed, and how carers’ social and political rights are supported by Canadian caregiver organizations. Organizations’ public materials draw on and expand narratives that foreground individual risk and recognition, decentring the state’s role. We elaborate on how carers’ citizenship rights are discursively bounded with proposed individualized solutions that support them in continuing to care. Broader narratives could consider carers’ human or citizenship rights or otherwise foreground relationality and complex collective care solidarities.
Engaging healthcare users and families in health research studies as partners – rather than as ‘research subjects’ in the traditional sense – is a growing trend in healthcare. This article is based on interviews with mothers of children with disabilities who partner in research studies on behalf of their children. For these mothers, participating in research is an identity-building activity that (1) builds on and validates their caregiving roles and (2) introduces new personal and professional possibilities for the future.
Capacity-building in the field of older people’s care and support, followed by empowerment through social innovation, seeks to use older people’s own skills and abilities that have not previously been considered and aims to create jobs while improving the morale and quality of life of older people. The present study uses participatory action research to analyse a social innovation cycle of job creation for older people living in neighbourhoods in Tehran as a sustainable approach. Participatory action research was used to enable people to participate directly in the research process. The results show that using a capacity-building approach in supporting older people using social innovation leads to: (1) job creation; (2) increased social interactions and communication among older people; (3) fewer negative effects of ageing, including psychological and physical effects; and (4) more active participation in society. In addition, challenges and stimuli for capacity-building are identified.
This study examines the prevalence of multidimensional social exclusion and associated factors of exclusion from social relations among formal home care recipients aged 65 and over. The survey data (n = 553) were collected in 2022 in Finland. The results show that almost half of respondents had difficulties making ends meet, almost a third felt lonely fairly often or all the time, 44 per cent were isolated, 20 per cent did not receive adequate help and support, and 41 per cent did not have enough possibilities to go outside. Getting inadequate help and support was associated with both loneliness and social isolation.
The shift towards the greater personalisation of care has seen a rise in personal assistants (PAs) employed by individuals using their own funds or receiving public support. Despite their growing importance, the recruitment and retention of PAs can be challenging. In this article, we empirically explore what affects the turnover and vacancies of PAs. We find that PA turnover and vacancies are affected by care need, type of support and local labour market factors. The new evidence from this article shows the difficulties of employing PAs and potential policy levers that could be used to improve PA recruitment and retention.
The formal employment of family caregivers represents a rather uncommon form of organising long-term care but exists in diverse welfare states. Against this background, we examine how family carers experience a formalisation of previously unpaid care by drawing on two Austrian employment programmes and discuss their larger implications with regard to the (de)familialisation of long-term care responsibilities. Depending on the welfare state context, employment models might either provide freedom of choice with regard to the preferred care arrangement and strengthen a right to care or contribute to the enforcement of family care and thereby reinforce pressures on caregiving relatives.
This article aims to describe support services for informal carers and identify the characteristics of the care recipient and municipality that are associated with the allocation of these services. Care recipients were selected from the Norwegian Registry for Primary Health Care on 31 December 2019. Cases received care benefits (N = 9,816), respite care in institutions (N = 2,594) or respite care at home (N = 7,346); controls received home-based services only (N = 193,402). Municipal data were retrieved from the Municipality-State-Reporting register. Child and adolescent care recipients most often received support services, but allocation to this age group differed extensively between municipalities. Greater cognitive disability and cohabiting increased the odds of support services.
Wellbeing programmes have the potential to support young carers in their formative years. However, there is a scarcity of research into wellbeing programmes for young carers and their associated outcomes. This review aims to identify targeted community programmes that support the mental health and social wellbeing of young carers and their outcomes through the academic literature. An initial search of databases retrieved 335 articles, with ten meeting the inclusion criteria. Findings were organised thematically according to the programme outcomes: improvement in emotional wellbeing and quality of life; the development of new skills; respite from caring; and social connectedness and peer support.
