Work restrictions experienced by midlife family care-givers of older people: evidence from six European countries

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREA PRINCIPI ◽  
GIOVANNI LAMURA ◽  
CRISTINA SIROLLA ◽  
LIZ MESTHENEOS ◽  
BARBARA BIEŃ ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Older People ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
Care Givers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Care Giving

ABSTRACTThis paper examines differences in work restrictions of midlife family carers of older people in terms of prevalence, gender and explanatory variables, in six European countries: Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. A sample of 2,897 carers aged 45–64 was extracted from the EUROFAMCARE (Services for Supporting Family Carers of Older People in Europe: Characteristics, Coverage and Usage) European project database, in order to analyse four possible work restrictions experienced in connection with the activity of care-giving: the reduction of working hours; giving up working; difficulties in career developments and forced occasional work. The results show that work restrictions are experienced differently between countries especially by women: they are reported to a higher degree in the United Kingdom, Germany and Greece, less so in Italy, and seldom in Poland and Sweden. Gender differences within countries are not so marked. Country differences are explained in the light of the different welfare regimes characterising the countries under investigation, in order to elucidate how policy makers may act to improve working carers' conditions through appropriate policies.

scholarly journals Exploring factors that impact the decision to use assistive telecare: perspectives of family care-givers of older people in the United Kingdom

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 1912-1932 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERICA J. COOK ◽  
GURCH RANDHAWA ◽  
ANDY GUPPY ◽  
CHLOE SHARP ◽  
GARRY BARTON ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Older People ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Care Givers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Service Framework

ABSTRACTIn the United Kingdom (UK), an ageing population met with the reduction of social care funding has led to reduced support for older people marked with an increased demand on family care-givers. Assistive telecare (AT) devices are viewed as an innovative and effective way to support older people. However, there is limited research which has explored adoption of AT from the perspectives of family care-givers. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 family care-givers of patients who used the Assistive Telehealth and Telecare service in Cambridgeshire, UK. Family care-givers were either the spouse (N = 8) or child of the patient (N = 6). The patients' age ranged from 75 to 98, and either received a telecare standalone device or connected service. Framework analysis was used to analyse the transcripts. This study revealed that family care-givers play a crucial role in supporting the patient's decision to adopt and engage with AT devices. Knowledge and awareness, perceived responsibility, usefulness and usability, alongside functionality of the equipment, were influential factors in the decision-making process. AT devices were viewed positively, considered easy to use, useful and functional, with reassurance of the patient's safety being a core reason for adoption. Efforts to increase adoption and engagement should adapt recruitment strategies and service pathways to support both the patient and their care-giver.

scholarly journals The experience of family care-givers and migrant paid care-givers' relief of burden: a contrasted qualitative analysis

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1219-1242 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARMEN DE LA CUESTA-BENJUMEA ◽  
BRENDA ROE
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Family Care ◽  
General Strategy ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Burden Of Care ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
Dependent Care ◽  
Care Givers ◽  
Care Giving

ABSTRACTOlder people are increasingly being cared for in the community across Europe. Dependent care in Spain largely remains a private issue involving family carers and migrant women from developing countries. Qualitative research on respite care has contributed to our understanding of respite as a subjective experience. Nonetheless, how care-givers relieve the burden of care is still not fully understood. Migrant care-givers are present in family life but their need for rest remains unseen. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to contrast family care-givers and migrant care-givers' strategies for relief from their caring role. Care-givers rest by thinking, doing and being but in a different manner from that of care-giving, that is: when they are a different person.To leave the life of care-givingis the general strategy that family care-givers use to rest from their care-giving selves whileturning to one's own worlddescribes the way migrant care-givers seek to relieve the burden of care. The comparative analysis shows that both strategies have in common the necessity to disconnect from the care-giving identity and that both migrant and family care-givers employ strategies that arefalse exits to a care-giving identity: they apparently relieve the burden of care. Respite goes beyond places, times and activities; as family care itself, it requires identity.

scholarly journals Theorising Disability Care (Non-)Personalisation in European Countries: Comparing Personal Assistance Schemes in Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-33
Author(s):  
Christoph Tschanz
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Heuristic Argument ◽  
Personal Assistance ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Degree Of Disability ◽  
Nancy Fraser

This article examines four European countries (Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) with respect to their degree of disability care personalisation. The approach is embedded in a broader theoretical analysis, which in turn is inspired by the notion of bivalent social justice as presented by Nancy Fraser (2003). The theoretical argument is that claims for personal assistance are part of a broader movement toward emancipation. However, it is argued that the specific settings of welfare regimes provide structures that empower or mitigate the possible implementation of personal assistance schemes. The author argues that conservative-corporatist welfare regimes provide less-supportive opportunity structures for policy change pertaining to personal assistance than other welfare regimes. This heuristic argument is developed further by looking more closely at key figures of Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom as being ideal-typical welfare regime cases. Furthermore, the case of Switzerland is outlined in an in-depth manner as it seems to have conservative-corporatist characteristics regarding the organisation of disability care while simultaneously being difficult to theorise. It is the aim of this article to serve as a first heuristic undertaking for analysing the low level of disability care personalisation in certain continental European cases.

A Typology of Caregiving Situations and Service Use in Family Carers of Older People in Six European Countries

GeroPsych ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirko Di Rosa ◽  
Christopher Kofahl ◽  
Kevin McKee ◽  
Barbara Bień ◽  
Giovanni Lamura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Older People ◽  
Support Services ◽  
Family Caregiving ◽  
Service Use ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Typology Of Care

This paper presents the EUROFAMCARE study findings, examining a typology of care situations for family carers of older people, and the interplay of carers with social and health services. Despite the complexity of family caregiving situations across Europe, our analyses determined the existence of seven “caregiving situations,” varying on a range of critical indicators. Our study also describes the availability and use of different support services for carers and care receivers, and carers’ preferences for the characteristics of support services. Our findings have relevance for policy initiatives in Europe, where limited resources need to be more equitably distributed and services should be targeted to caregiving situations reflecting the greatest need, and organized to reflect the preferences of family carers.

Fathers' time-bind and the outsourcing of “male” domestic work in Europe: the cases of the United Kingdom and Germany

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majella Kilkey ◽  
Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Domestic Work ◽  
Path Dependency ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Feminist Scholarship ◽  
Maintenance And Repair ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
Childhood Parenting ◽  
Buying In

In this article we examine the processes driving the outsourcing of masculinized forms of domestic work, involving household and garden maintenance and repair, and its displacement to migrant men; a trend which we conceive as part of the broader transnationalization of care that has been highlighted in feminist scholarship. The article draws on two studies conducted in the United Kingdom and Germany, and focuses on the demand on the part of households buying in “male” domestic services. We find that households use handymen in order to alleviate a father time-bind, which is rooted in three processes. Firstly, a “Europeanization” in norms around childhood, parenting and fathering; secondly, a liberalization and flexibilization of working time regimes in both countries; and thirdly, path dependency in welfare regimes based historically on a male breadwinner model. On the basis of our findings in the United Kingdom and Germany, we conclude the paper by reflecting on whether and why we might expect the commoditization of male domestic services to be manifest in other European countries.

scholarly journals Seeing the collective: family arrangements for care at home for older people with dementia

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (06) ◽  
pp. 1200-1218 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE CECI ◽  
HOLLY SYMONDS BROWN ◽  
MARY ELLEN PURKIS
Keyword(s):  
Family Care ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Care At Home ◽  
At Home

ABSTRACTWith the predicted growth in the number of people with dementia living at home across the globe, the need for home-based care is expected to increase. As such, it will be primarily family carers who will provide this crucial support to family members. Designing appropriate support for family carers is thus essential to minimise risks to their health, to prevent premature institutionalisation or poor care for persons with dementia, as well as to sustain the effective functioning of health and social care systems. To date, the high volume of research related to care at home and acknowledged low impact of interventions suggests that a re-examination of the nature of care at home, and how we come to know about it, is necessary if we are to advance strategies that will contribute to better outcomes for families. This paper describes findings from an ethnographic study that was designed to support an analysis of the complexity and materiality of family care arrangements – that is, the significance of the actual physical, technological and institutional elements shaping care-giving situations. In this paper, we describe the arrangements made by one family to show the necessary collectivity of these arrangements, and the consequences of the formal care system's failure to respond to these.

scholarly journals Analysis on the participation of the main sovereign wealth funds in European listed companies

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
L. Gómez-Pavón Durán
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Home Country ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Company Size ◽  
Economic Sector ◽  
Sovereign Wealth Funds ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
The One

The aim of this study is to conduct an analysis of the investment made by the fifteen largest sovereign wealth funds on listed European companies. The analysis is divided into two sections: a descriptive one and a statistical one. The methodology used for this purpose consisted of mining data from Orbis database and running a binomial logistic regression. The main results show that, in the first place, the Norwegian fund is the one that invests in a larger amount of companies and European countries. Another significant result indicates that the United Kingdom is the country that receives the most investment. Finally, the results lead also to the conclusion that, concerning investing, sovereign wealth funds are influenced by a set of factors such as company size, profitability, and leverage, whereas the company’s home country and the economic sector it belongs are not determining factors.

scholarly journals A comparison of coronavirus disease 2019 and seasonal influenza surveillance in five European countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Bricout ◽  
Rigoine de Fougerolles Thierry ◽  
Joan Puig-Barbera ◽  
Georges Kassianos ◽  
Philippe Vanhems ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Data Communication ◽  
European Countries ◽  
World Health ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
Molecular Testing ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
The United Kingdom

Background: In response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak that unfolded across Europe in 2020, the World Health Organisation called for repurposing existing influenza surveillance systems to monitor COVID-19. This analysis aimed to compare descriptively the extent to which influenza surveillance systems were adapted and enhanced, and how COVID-19 surveillance could ultimately benefit or disrupt routine influenza surveillance. Methods: We used a previously developed framework in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom to describe COVID-19 surveillance and its impact on influenza surveillance. The framework divides surveillance systems into 7 sub-systems and 20 comparable outcomes of interest, and uses 5 evaluation criteria based on WHO guidance. Information on influenza and COVID-19 surveillance systems were collected from publicly available resources shared by European and national public health agencies. Results: Overall, non-medically attended, virological, primary care and mortality surveillance were adapted in most countries to monitor COVID-19, whilst community, outbreak, and hospital surveillance were reinforced in all countries. Data granularity improved, with more detailed demographic and medical information recorded. A shift to systematic notification for cases and deaths enhanced both geographic and population representativeness whilst the sampling strategy benefited from the roll out of widespread molecular testing. Data communication was greatly enhanced, contributing to improved public awareness. Conclusions: Well-established influenza surveillance systems are a key component of pandemic preparedness and their upgrade allowed European countries to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, uncertainties remain on how both influenza and COVID-19 surveillance can be jointly and durably implemented.

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