Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T20:15:53.165Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The burden of long-term care: how Italian family care-givers become employers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2010

FRANCESCA DEGIULI
FRANCESCA DEGIULI*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, CUNY College of Staten Island, New York, USA.
*
Address for correspondence: Francesca Degiuli, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, City University of New York, Building 4S, Room 223, College of Staten Island, 2800Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, Santa Barbara, NY10314, USA E-mail: francesca.degiuli@csi.cuny.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In recent years in Italy, population ageing, rising female labour-market participation, and the restructuring of the welfare state have combined to create increased demand for long-term care services for frail and dependent older people. The rising demand has increasingly been met by immigrant women of different nationalities, and to a lesser extent immigrant men, who are hired to provide individualised care in people's own homes and other private settings. While there have been many studies of this growing phenomenon, very little attention has been paid to the reasons that bring family care-givers to choose this care-support option. To begin to fill the gap, this paper reports the finding of a qualitative study of 26 family members who were caring for a disabled elder. Semi-structured interviews lasting between 60 and 100 minutes and that covered various aspects of long-term care in family households were conducted. The participants' responses indicate that they did not choose immigrant home eldercare assistants solely for economic reasons but also to be consistent with cultural, moral and traditional understandings of family responsibilities and care. They also provide valuable findings and insights into Italian attitudes towards the welfare state and the care-labour market. While the wealthiest respondent declared a clear predilection for the free-market and a desire to bypass the state, the majority of the respondents advocated a stronger role of the welfare state in helping people cope with the increased burden of long-term care.

Keywords

elder carewelfare statecare workimmigrationItaly
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 30 , Issue 5 , July 2010 , pp. 755 - 777
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alemani, C. 2004. Le colf: ansie e desideri delle datrici di lavoro [Domestic workers: their female employers' anxieties and desires]. Polis, 18, 1, 137–62.Google Scholar
Andall, J. and Sarti, R. 2004. Le trasformazioni del servizio domestico in Italia: un introduzione [The transformation of domestic service in Italy: an introduction]. Polis, 18, 1, 5–16.Google Scholar
Aronson, J. and Neysmith, S. 2006. Obscuring the costs of home care: restructuring at work. Work, Employment and Society, 20, 1, 27–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayalon, L. 2009. Family and family-like interactions in households with round-the-clock paid foreign carers in Israel. Ageing & Society, 29, 5, 671–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bettio, F., Simonazzi, A. M. and Villa, P. 2006. Change in care regimes and female migration: the ‘care drain’ in the Mediterranean. Journal of European Social Policy, 16, 3, 271–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colombo, A. D. 2007. ‘They call me a housekeeper, but I do everything’: who are domestic workers today in Italy and what do they do? Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 12, 2, 207–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creswell, J. 1998. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions. Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
DaRoit, B. 2007. Changing intergenerational solidarities within families in a Mediterranean welfare state: elderly care in Italy. Current Sociology, 55, 2, 251–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Degiuli, F. 2007. A job with no boundaries. Home eldercare work in Italy. European Journal of Women Studies, 14, 3, 193–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I. and Shaw, L. L. 1995. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eurostat 2005. Population Projections 2004–2050. Eurostat, Luxembourg. Available online at http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/pls/portal/docs/ [Accessed 18 May 2007].Google Scholar
Glucksmann, M. and Lyon, D. 2006. Configurations of care work: paid and unpaid elder care in Italy and the Netherlands. Sociological Research Online, 11, 2, unpaginated. Available online at http://ideas.repec.org/a/sro/srosro/2006-2-3.html [Accessed 4 August 2007].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochschild, A. 1997. The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. Metropolitan/Holt, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyon, D. 2006. The organization of care work in Italy: gender and migrant labor in the new economy. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 13, 1, 207–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyon, D. and Glucksmann, M. 2008. Comparative configurations of care work across Europe. Sociology, 42, 1, 101–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morini, C. 2001. La serva serve [The Serf Serves]. Derive e Approdi, Rome.Google Scholar
Palese, A., Oliverio, F., Girardo, M. F., Fabbro, E. and Saiani, L. 2004. Difficulties and workload of foreign caregivers: a descriptive analysis. Diversity in Health and Social Care, 1, 1, 31–8.Google Scholar
Piazza, M. 1997. L'ostinata permanenza della non-ovvieta [The obstinate permanence of the non-obvious]. Quaderni di Azione Sociale, 1, 1, 79–86.Google Scholar
Polverini, F., Principi, A., Balducci, C., Melchiorre, G., Sabrina Quattrini, M., Gianelli, V. and Lamura, G. 2004. Eurofamcare: National Background Report for Italy. Istituto Nazionale di Riposo e Cura Anziani [Department of Gerontological Research] (INRCA), Ancona, Italy. Available online at http://www.uke.de/extern/eurofamcare/documents/nabare_italy_rc1_a5.pdf [Accessed 8 January 2009].Google Scholar
Ranci, C. 2001. Verso un mercato sociale dei servizi di cura. Prospettive per le politiche assistenziali rivolte alla popolazione anziana [Towards a social market of care services]. In Ranci, C. (ed.), L'assistenza agli anziani in Italia e in Europa [Elders' Services in Italy and Europe]. Franco Angeli Editore, Milan, Italy, 1–15.Google Scholar
Romero, M. 1992. Maid in the USA. Routledge, New York.Google Scholar
Spano, P. 2006. Le convenienze nascoste. Il fenomeno badanti e le risposte del welfare [The Invisible Advantages: The ‘Badanti’ Phenomenon and the Welfare State Responses]. Nuova Dimensione, Portogruaro, Venice, Italy.Google Scholar
Strauss, A., and Corbin, J. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory, Procedures and Techniques. Sage, Newbury Park, California.Google Scholar
United Nations Organization 2004. World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Organization, New York. Available online at http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WPP2004/WPP2004_Vol3_Final/Chapter2.pdf [Accessed 7 July 2007].Google Scholar