Elder Care
Aging in a Foreign Country
Description
As our life quality improves, we now live healthier and longer. Elder care becomes an increasingly important issue as older population grows over the years, including in Sweden. The trend suggests that demands for elder care will continue to increase in the future. As a result of cutbacks in public eldercare services, family care for the elderly at home becomes more common.
Elderly immigrants may also prefer family home care due to social, economic, cultural and other circumstances. Elderly immigrants have similar care needs with the elderly in general, but experiences of aging in a foreign country can add a complexity and diversity to these needs. Discussions on eldercare under the pandemic in Sweden have been directed mostly to the situation in nursing homes. Limited attention has been given to the strengths and challenges of family home care for the elderly.
This research aims to study home care for elderly immigrants in Sweden which is performed by families under the Covid-pandemic situation. The research will investigate experiences, strengths, challenges, and consequences of family home care for elderly immigrants. Public municipal support for the elderly and their caregiving relatives is also part of the studied topics. Data for this study will be collected through semi-structured interview with elderly immigrants who receive family home care, family members who provide home care for elderly with migrant background, municipal representatives, and relevant actors within elder care and/or family support issues.
This project is one year, and it is funded by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte), no. 2020-01555. This research will contribute to knowledge on home care for elderly immigrants under a pandemic. Theoretically, the research will add an intersectional analysis of elder care to literature within human geography, gerontology, and migration studies. The evidence-based findings and recommendations will be relevant for politicians, government officials, and other actors within elder care and family support issues. In the long-term, the project will contribute to the improvement of support for elderly immigrants and their caregiving relatives.
If you are interested to participate in the study, you are welcome to contact our researchers.
Researchers included in this project:
Patricia Yocie Hierofani (project leader)
Micheline van Riemsdijk (collaborator).