Care Management: Issues and Challenges

Asian Review of Social Sciences

A paradigm shift from the joint family system to nuclear family, a fast changes in lifestyles, changing and fluctuating social values and the pressure of working conditions create impediment for the younger generation at present in loving and caring their elderly parents. The age-old traditional institutions in the country are not successful and sometimes failing in accommodating the needs of their elderly, it is the duty of the state to evolve good policies and design necessary programmes for the welfare of the geriatric population to keep the elderly alive and safeguard them with human dignity. It is a constitutional obligation. The present paper analyses in detail about the various policies and programmes of the elderly and how they are implemented from time to time of the various states in India. The findings show clearly about the large scale inadequacy of political economy of elderly welfare in India. The states could not do anything concretely to cater to the needs of the gro...

2021

The condition of the elderly could be dealt with two perspectives in India. One, which confirms that due to social and demographic changes Indian elderly are facing trouble; second stands that yet the forces of social change has been penetrated the Indian society and elderly are in better position than the past. This paper is review of research analysing how the elderly are taken care by the family? How far the forces of social change have influenced the Indian society? Their health conditions, treatment seeking behaviours, welfare services of the government, certain challenges that have arisen for their condition and some solutions have also been explained on the basis of secondary sources of data.

2018

Sociology as an academic discipline studies scientifically the social events, social structures, relationships, institutions, etc. Within this disciplinary aspect, care sociology deals with the science of social actions as well as the socio-psychological matters within the existing economic institutional marketized forms with certain historical-cultural roots. Sociologists may train the carers who do caring work. A carer can make the distinction between moral and ethical choices where the care sociology places itself with an identity of a branch of knowledge for the practising sociologist. This paper takes the trouble to search the contributors of care sociology first, and then wants to understand the empirical dimensions of it in contemporary research fields. The analytical portion adds a new path of realization on the social implications of caregiving habitus construction in everyday life. The concluding part contemplates an applied voice of care sociology.

Indian Journal Of Psychological Science, 2019

According to the report, Aging in the 21st Century: A Celebration and a Challenge submitted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and HelpAge International (October 2012), 80% of the world's older people will live in developing countries. It is important to note that in 2010 there were 23 aged economies; by 2040 there will be 89. The report further points out that over 1/3 of world's older persons will live in China and India, and India will be the home to 1 out of every 6 of the world's older persons by 2050. The elderly form 8% of India's population. This translates to over a 100 million people above the age of 60 years. The 2001 Census highlighted the feminisation of the elderly population in India. For women, being female has meant a lifetime of discrimination at home and elsewhere which continues even in old age. Approximately 66% of elderly women are fully dependent on others; 32% do not own any assets of their own. The WHO report further points out that Aging is taking place alongside other broad social trends that will affect the lives of older people. Economies are globalizing, people are more likely to live in cities, and technology is evolving rapidly. Demographic and family changes mean there will be fewer older people with families to care for them. People today have fewer children, are less likely to be married, and are less likely to live with older generations. With declining support from families, society will need better information and tools to ensure the well-being of the world's growing number of older citizens. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to devise ways of taking care of the elderly citizens and situate the caregiving process in Indian context.

When caring is linked to social capital, it is generally assumed that the nature of the relationship is that social capital is a resource that can be used for care work Jeppsson-Grassman and Whittaker, 2008). When there is inadequate funding of aged care services by the State, the social capital may be seen as a substitute for economic and human capital. Caring, therefore, is seen as a drain on capital, whether it be economic or social capital. However, this does not have to be the case. Aged care services, if thoughtfully designed, can not only consume social capital but also generate it. Examples from India and Australia have revealed some models of elder care which specifically address the generation of social capital. The analysis presented in this paper shows how the key elements of social capital are addressed in each model and assesses their strengths and limitations for community building.

GeroPsych

This article applies a cultural political economy lens within a sustainable livelihood framework and examines how cultural norms and values as well as social protection amplify or attenuate livelihood shocks leading to care-home entry. We used framework analysis and higher-level interpretive analysis of data from interviews with 30 older care-home residents from three districts in Tamil Nadu, India, to understand the practices that allow the social welfare system to function alongside the beliefs and values legitimizing these practices. Results reveal a divergence between the value orientation of social-protection policy and cultural practices which constrains the choices available for care in later life and reinforces culturally constructed inequalities rather than protecting or remediating livelihood shocks and loss of assets.

Ethics, Place and Environment, 2010

The literature on care highlights that caring is full of both problems and possibilities. Caring for others is a source of pleasure and fulfillment but it is also undervalued, denied, a source of degradation and exploitation, a practice located within global scale hierarchies of gender, class and ethnicity. Care can be problematic for those who need it, who give it and for those who arrange care for others, but it can also be the most precious thing in the world to them. In this paper I reflect on how notions of care have been mobilized in two very different areas that I have researched. The first is in alternative food schemes, in which care appears to offer possibilities for community building, political action and personal satisfaction. The second is paid domestic employment: here care is highly problematic in both practical and emotional terms and at interpersonal and international scales. The paper uses Joan Tronto’s (2006) work to locate paid caring in social hierarchies of gender, class and race/ethnicity. It concludes by reflecting on the differences and similarities between these two different situations and discusses what an ethic of care has to offer to those seeking a more caring world

Current Sociology, 2018

Although care and care work have always formed a theme of fundamental social significance, neither has had much social recognition nor sociological attention commensurate with this importance. In this Current Sociology monograph we want to move the discussion forward towards a global sociology of care and care work. The contributions focus on both theoretical and empirical studies about care relations and their global interrelations. To shed light on the dynamics that characterise the social organisation of care and care work, the monograph has been structured around three significant tendencies in the international sociology of care: (a) the marketisation and the de-commodification of care and care work; (b) the transnationalisation of labour and policies; and (c) new forms of governance and social statehood. The articles in this monograph present state of the art research reflecting on the care-situation, -arrangements and -regimes all over the globe.

The burden of aging society and concern towards the shift in young-old population balance is felt throughout the world. The increasing proportions of older persons have been accompanied, in most populations, by steady declines in the proportion of young persons (UN, 2013). Population of over 60 years olds will reach to one billion within the decade estimates report prepared by UNFPA and Help Age International, 2012. In India too, the pressure is mounting with the increased number of 'Older' people (60+ years) by 54.77 percent in the last 15 years. Older People are now living longer with increasing life expectancy and availability of better health facilities but are also requiring more assistance or care to manage their day to day activities. There are many challenges in providing better quality of life to older people especially those requiring high support needs. Older people as a group are also divers and each of them have a distinct need. Carers of older person play a key role in meeting these challenges. Caregivers represent an important source of care for older person and are present in some form in all societies. A caregiver is someone who assumes responsibility for the care of an older person who has some health problems. In Indian context, this role is usually played by family member /members mainly female spouse, daughter in law, son or daughter. The role of caregiver can become increasingly burdensome if the person needs constant care. However, as older persons have many assets, strengths and resources, they can be used, involved in the process of providing care. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the issues/problems faced by caregivers, level of stress experienced by them in their family relationship and adjustment, burden in different areas of family functioning, social and emotional reactions of caregivers to the responsibility of care giving. The paper is based on the findings of an empirical qualitative in-depth study conducted in the state of Gujarat, India during the year 2012-13. The study concludes that care giving role is a serious and ongoing process. Caregivers often face hardships of various kinds. Daily activities of the care giving coupled with lack of social and familial support causes burden of care, stress and frustration and greatly affect care givers contributing to negative adaptation to the situation thus affecting the their total quality of life. In spite of this carers found lot of satisfaction in the role of carer and carried it out as a sense of their duty to give back.