Norah Keating’s research while affiliated with North-West University and other places

Providing care for older adults involves tasks carried out by and relationships with family, friends, and/or paid carers. In light of population aging, and the retrenchment or absence of social welfare to support unpaid carers, the vast majority of care for older adults is provided by carers who are members of the family or friends. Understanding the cultural context of families, the changes they face, and caregiving expectations and experiences will help in the understanding of social care networks; which frail older adults are likely to be without care; and how macrosystems such as pensions and chronic healthcare systems may better support older adults and their caregivers.

The UN Decade of Healthy Ageing states that family carers should not be held responsible for care. Yet families continue to provide the majority of care to members with long term health problems and disabilities. Their contributions to the economy remain unrecognized; their costs noted but relegated to private family matters. The purpose of this presentation is to determine wellbeing outcomes of older Canadians with diverse life course trajectories of care. Data are from the 2018 Statistics Canada nationally representative survey on caregiving. Sample for this study is ≈3000 people 65+ with one or more care episodes across their life course. Based on earlier conceptual and empirical work, we recreated 5 care trajectories. Wellbeing was measured based on material, relational and subjective domains. We conducted multivariate analyses (OLS, logistic and ordered logistic regressions) appropriate to the nature of the dependent variable) to assess whether care trajectory type predicted later life wellbeing. Results show significant differences in wellbeing among trajectory types. Serial carers had longest years of care and most care episodes. They experienced the most negative wellbeing outcomes compared to carers with other trajectory types in material wellbeing (poorer physical and mental health, lower employment income), and subjective wellbeing (higher stress). There were no significant differences across care trajectory types in relational wellbeing (loneliness). We discuss the place of public policy in addressing patterns of cumulative disadvantage in life courses of family care; and call for the development of indicators of wellbeing domains that best reflect these outcomes.

This report presents a conceptual framework of Canada’s care economy. This framework is based on a review of Canadian and international research on the topic as well as consultations with key stakeholders and experts. The report summarizes relevant research on the care economy, delineates the scope and boundaries for the Canadian context, and proposes key definitions of paid and unpaid care work.

A new paradigm for continuing care policy has emerged that is based on assumptions about the benefits of caring partnerships and client-centred care delivery. Such assumptions place the interface between formal and informal care squarely on the policy agenda. The authors describe how existing research can contribute to the debate stimulated by the new policy paradigm and suggest future research that is informed by the paradigm. They argue that theory is an important tool to make policy agendas more explicit and they use human ecology theory to illustrate how theory can frame the development of research to address policy. Finally, they describe barriers to be overcome in order for policy and research to inform one another.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the monetary value of Canadians’ family care work, to highlight inequalities within the family care sector and place this work within the care economy. Using Statistics Canada’s 2018 General Social Survey, we estimated the replacement cost of the 5.7 billion hours of respondents’ care work at between $97.1 billion and$112.7 billion. We used descriptive, backward stepwise regression and dominance analyses to examine the distribution of care responsibilities among caregivers. Caregivers comprised 22.1% of the sample (6.8 million Canadians). Living arrangement explained most (81-83%) of the variance in the value of unpaid care work, followed by generation (14-15%), income (2%) and gender (1-2%). These findings provide powerful evidence of the economic value of family care work and of the inequalities among family caregivers in the magnitude of their contributions. Monetizing the value of family care makes it more visible, locates it in the context of the broader care economy and establishes its relationship to the much more visible and valued realm of paid care work. This contextualization also responds to global action plans and resolutions urging governments to create systems of long-term and continuing care for people with chronic conditions and disabilities rather than imposing sole responsibility on unpaid caregivers.

Namibia’s lengthy colonial history and current high levels of inequality foreshadow care in the context of poverty and marginalisation, and within families that are diverse and whose care capacities are poorly understood. Focus group interviews with family carers of older people in two marginalised communities provide insights into their experiences of care. We highlight three findings: first, contexts of care perpetuate and entrench marginalisation; second, care is not widely shared within families, raising questions of what it means to ‘do family’; and, third, care has negative consequences for carers and their families, foreshadowing generational replication of carer exclusion.

The United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020–30) states that reliance on family care alone is unsustainable. This scoping review synthesises knowledge on family beliefs about care for older people in Central, East, Southern and West Africa and Latin America. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed, and 35 articles published from 2010 to 2020 were included. The review highlights the challenges arising from embedded beliefs in family obligations to care.

The UN Decade of Healthy Ageing urges communities to create environments that support older adults. Yet rural communities may be overlooked and have limited capacity to be supportive. A scoping review was undertaken to determine the state of knowledge of elements of rural communities influencing well-being of older adults in CESW Africa and Latin America. Thematic analysis highlighted three community domains: local environments, community relationships and cultural identity. Findings highlight communities’ limited control over external services, infrastructure and formal partnerships that influence well-being of older people. Community capacity to support older persons must be evaluated in light of these constraints.

Background and Objectives In view of the inherited temporal dimension of climate change, this study aims to highlight diverse intergenerational effects and coping strategies by examining the state of literature on older people and intergenerational relations in the context of climate change Research Design and Methods A scoping review of peer-reviewed scientific literature was conducted. We searched the following bibliographical datasets: PubMed, Web of Science, and APA PsycNet in addition to a snowballing search based on Google Scholar. The primary search was conducted between September 22, 2021 and September 26, 2021, using variations of the search terms: older people AND intergenerational AND climate change. Two independent raters classified the articles using pre-specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results In total, 20 articles were maintained for data extraction. Articles reflect two poles in relation to older people and intergenerational relations in the context of climate change. The first emphasizes intergenerational conflicts and differences, whereas the second stresses solidarity and transmission of knowledge and practices between the generations. Discussion and Implications Both older and younger people are affected by age-based discrimination in the context of climate change. Generational differences in energy consumption and attitudes towards climate change exist. Nonetheless, these can be overcome by stressing the solidarity between the generations and the ability of older people to contribute to the climate change movement as well as by the ability of both young and old to transmit knowledge and practices related to sustainability.