Multi-local and cross-border care loops: Comparison of childcare and eldercare policies in Slovenia

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 640-652
Author(s):  
Majda Hrženjak

This article provides a comparative analysis of two different care systems, childcare and eldercare, in Slovenia, an Eastern-European post-transition country, with a dual-breadwinner full-time employment regime, a relatively low level of migration and a fast growing share of the 65+ population. The analysis shows that both care systems follow two different kinds of logic of egalitarianism, which means that the national care regime is internally diversified. While care for children is public, universally accessible and defamilialistic, care for the elderly follows the principles of marketization, economy-based inequality in access and familialization. Such policies also have different implications for care mobilities: while childcare demands daily transfers between multi-local sites of care, which remained confined within the state borders, eldercare increasingly demands cross-border care loops. The comparison of both care systems along with the empirical evidence on the presence/absence of migrant care workers in care support the thesis that cross-border care mobilities emerge at points where the state with its policies is failing to adequately meet care needs of the citizens.

Rev Rene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. e44395
Author(s):  
Giovana Peres Cardoso ◽  
Daniela Garcia Damaceno ◽  
Miriam Fernanda Sanches Alarcon ◽  
Maria José Sanches Marin

Objective: to understand the perception of health and law professionals regarding care for frail elderly people who live alone. Methods: qualitative research, carried out through interviews with health and law professionals, using a vignette as a trigger, presenting the description of the story of a frail elderly woman who lived alone. Data were submitted to the thematic analysis technique. Results: the 23 professionals pointed out that the family members should be the responsible ones for the elderly; that institutionalization should take place as the last option; stressed the importance of multi-professional and intersectoral work; and recognized the limitations of the state. The professionals reported the appropriate interventions for the case. Conclusion: in care for the elderly who live alone, there are limitations for families, social care, and health services for the elderly, as well as the State, with the need to strengthen legally guaranteed resources.


2020 ◽  
pp. 147332502097332
Author(s):  
Charles Selorm Deku ◽  
John Boulard Forkuor ◽  
Eric Agyemang

Starting in December 2019 in Wuhan China, the novel coronavirus (COVID 19) disease has reached 216 countries with 6, 140, 934 confirmed cases and 373, 548 deaths as at 2nd June, 2020 globally Ghana, with an estimated population of 31,014,508 has recorded 8, 297 confirmed cases, 2, 986 recoveries and 38 deaths with 5, 273 active cases as at the same date. All but one of the 16 administrative regions have recorded confirmed cases with the highest case numbers in the more urban regions of the country. Considering that one of the highest risk populations in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak is the elderly population, this brief essay examines the state of elderly care in Ghana in relation to this pandemic. The paper reflects on the state of care needs for the elderly, current elderly care systems, inadequacy of data on elderly population and social work practice in Ghana. It also raises questions on the preparedness of current elderly care systems and general social work practice in Ghana amidst COVID 19. The paper recommends professionalization of geriatric care and formalization of community-based care for the elderly in Ghana as the way forward.


Author(s):  
Mădălina Rogoz ◽  
Martina Sekulova

AbstractIn the last two decades, care deficits in Western Europe have been fuelled by demographic and social transformations, such as population ageing, changes in household structures, welfare programme reforms and an altogether lesser involvement of the state in care provision. These care deficits, particularly in high-income countries, have been addressed through migrant labour which, in turn, contributes to increasing care needs in the migrants’ sending countries. Through the example of Romanian and Slovak caregivers working in 2- and 4-week shifts in Austria, this chapter explores the linkages between care workers’ strategies to address the care deficits in their families, the features of relevant welfare provisions in their respective countries of origin and the workers’ mobility patterns. The chapter argues that existing (limited) care needs in their respective families allow carers to engage in transnational work, while extensive care needs at home are a hindrance for working abroad. In other words, there seems to be a tipping point in the care needs of workers’ families, which results in care workers no longer wanting to work abroad but needing to remain in their countries of origin and care for family members instead. Furthermore, the chapter argues that labour mobility patterns are also influenced by the ‘familialistic’ orientation of relevant welfare provisions in sending countries. As limited formal services put pressure on families to continue providing care informally, institutional frameworks for childcare and care for the elderly also influence care workers’ mobility strategies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (7) ◽  
pp. 1387-1408 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN TESHUVA ◽  
JISKA COHEN-MANSFIELD ◽  
ESTHER IECOVICH ◽  
HAVA GOLANDER

ABSTRACTFrail older people worldwide are increasingly being cared for in their own homes by migrant live-in care workers; however, extant literature on care relationships in this care context is sparse. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the quality and the nature of care relationships between full-time, live-in migrant care workers and older people in Israel. Quantitative and qualitative data were drawn from a 2014 survey of 116 migrant care workers and 73 older care recipients. Mean scores for four quantitative items relating to care relationships were examined and independent samples t-tests and Pearson correlations were performed, whereas qualitative data were examined using thematic analysis. Credibility of qualitative findings was checked by peer review. Most older people and migrant care workers gave high ratings to the four items. Significant correlations between the two groups were found for their responses on all four relationship items assessed, with only one item (‘get along well’) producing significant t-test differences. Qualitative data provided a deeper understanding of the quantitative ratings of care relationships. Four major qualitative themes emerged as inextricably tied with both groups’ perceptions of positive care relationships. These were: an emotional connection; reciprocity; effective communication; and meeting the older person's care needs. Study findings were interpreted through the theoretical lens of relationship-centred care. Implications of the findings for theory, practice and further research are discussed.


1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaori Imai

The demand for health care and social welfare services for the elderly has increased and in Japan, there is a need in the social system to improve the quality of life, especially for those who are disabled. This article directs attention to bed-ridden elderly persons from the standpoint of social problems attending economic development and population changes based on data from Japan, the United States, Sweden, and OECD countries. Compared to the United States, there are more bed-ridden elderly in Japan, and inadequate public resources for caring. Physicians, nurses, care workers, and rehabilitation specialists such as physiotherapist and occupational therapist per 1000 aged sixty-five or over are 89.5 in Japan while 237.4 in Sweden. Japan has the fewest such health and welfare personnel among developed countries. Even with increases in such personnel through the New Gold Plan, future increase in aged population would off-set the effect and the problem of providing care for the elderly remains.


Just Labour ◽  
1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Van Arsdale ◽  
Michael Mandarino

In the summer of 2008, we set out to hear from Ontario’s growingpopulation of temporary help workers, also known as, temporary serviceworkers. Having already conducted studies of temporary help workers in theUnited States, we sought to compare the working conditions of temporaryworkers in Ontario to those of workers south of theborder. We visitedtemporary agencies in Toronto and conducted in-depth interviews with over adozen temporary help workers. Their circumstancesare not unlike those of theirU.S. counterparts — they are not adequately rewarded for their vital on-call rolein contemporary capitalism and they become “stuck”in this relatively new typeof work, unable to find and secure full-time employment.


Author(s):  
Manabu Yamaji ◽  
Ayako Oura ◽  
Atsushi Ogihara

In recent years, the quality of services at welfare facilities for the elderly has come into question and differences in concepts and ways of approach toward quality are affecting facility performances. In the context of quality management, the concept of quality has extended from a mere focus on service to business processes, and now focuses specifically on quality in welfare facility management. Care workers have typically been responsible for the quality of care in welfare facilities. However, as it has become difficult to retain already-trained care workers and also source fresh, competent care workers to provide care for the elderly in welfare facilities, there is a pressing need to adopt measures to find, train, and retain skilled care workers. We propose a quality management model to effectively manage welfare facilities for the elderly with an emphasis on improving the intellectual productivity of care workers in these facilities. This model is centered mainly on information sharing to secure and develop skilled human resources in order to ensure the delivery of high quality services in these facilities. Moreover, in this model, it is conditional that CS, ES, SS are met under stable management and environment that same quality and optimal services are offered. Further, we report examples of the application of this model and its effectiveness.


1998 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albertina Albors-Llorens

INMartinez Sala v. Freistaat Bayern (Case C-85/96, judgment of 12 May 1998, not yet reported), the Court of Justice has taken a step towards the clarification of the real force of the EC Treaty provisions on citizenship. Mrs. Martinez Sala was a Spanish national lawfully resident in Germany since 1968 and employed there at intervals between 1976 and 1989. In 1993, she applied to the State of Bavaria for a child-raising allowance, a benefit granted to all residents in Germany who had a dependent child in their care and were either unemployed or had no full-time employment. Her application was rejected on the grounds that at the time that she applied for the benefit she was not in possession of a residence permit, a requirement that had to be met by all non-German nationals. The central issue in the case was, therefore, whether Mrs. Martinez Sala had been discriminated against.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Nicolescu

This article explores the success of the “migrant in the family” model of care for the elderly in southeast Italy and the mechanisms that bond the caregivers and their patients in a mutual dependency. I describe this model as a meeting place between endurance and vulnerability, and between the fragility of the elderly and the fragility of most of the women who work as migrant care workers. I argue that migrant live-in care work for the elderly is a combination of attentive practice and detachment in completion to the current description of care work as ritual and as tinkering and adaptation. In a broader perspective, the article shows that the economic needs in poorer regions of the world manifest in the commitment and determination to keep the elderly alive in Italy. This article reports findings from long-term ethnographic research among 34 migrant domestic care workers and 24 Italian employers in a medium-sized town in Italy. The article illustrates the findings by means of three case studies and engages with the existing literature on person-centered care in patients with dementia, biopolitics, and the global political economy of migration for work in the field of care. Migrant work for the elderly is crucial for a general understanding of social reproduction in Italy and in many other global contexts.


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