Defining care moments: unequal rebounding from crises for family senior caregivers

At the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA) 2024 Conference, Alexa Carson, Izumi Niki, and Pelin Gul presented “Defining care moments: unequal rebounding from crises for family senior caregivers.” Preliminary findings from in-depth interviews with 57 unpaid caregivers for seniors (who are living at home or in supported living situations such as retirement homes and long-term care) across Canada highlight the consequential influence of defining care moments : that is, instances in which the care requirements of seniors shift rapidly. At these crucial points in time, many caregivers describe adverse mental and physical health effects, as well as lost opportunities related to employment, leisure, and self-care. Yet while some caregivers rebound relatively quickly and find a new equilibrium that works for them, others do not, struggling for years in unsustainable care circumstances. These varying responses to defining care moments reveal disparities in access to care support and services based on social (class, gender, race, and ethnicity) and geographic (municipality population size and remoteness) locations.

Alexa Carson is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. She has a Master’s in International Development Studies from Dalhousie University and is the co-author of a book exploring youth homelessness in Canada.

Izumi Niki is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, and a Registered Social Worker in Ontario. Her research interest is in paid and unpaid care work, gender, immigration policy, and anti-oppressive practice, especially in Japan and East Asia.

Pelin Gul is a third-year Ph.D. student in Sociology at the University of Toronto. As a political sociologist, she studies how global and domestic inequalities shape ordinary people’s political behaviour using qualitative methods.

Abstract

In 2023, over 20% of Canadians performed unpaid care for care-dependent adults, representing a far larger proportion than paid care providers for care-dependent adults (3%) (Statistics Canada 2023). Family caregivers, predominantly women, fill the gaps in formal care systems, often with far too little support from employers, community, or government (Barken, Daly, and Armstrong 2016; Klostermann and Funk 2022; Ulmanen, Lowndes, and Choiniere 2023). This unpaid caregiving has negative impacts on caregiver employment, work-life balance, and mental health (Amin and Ingman 2014; Bianchi and Milkie 2010; Gordon et al. 2012; Lahaie, Earle, and Heymann 2013; Pearlin, Aneshensel, and Leblanc 1997; Statistics Canada 2023). Consequently, unpaid caregiving has far-reaching societal impacts, requiring cross-sectoral policy considerations related to health care and social services, as well as labour and employment (Folbre 2018). Despite this, much research on adult care crises has focused on quality of care, as well as conditions of work for paid care providers (Cranford 2020; Cranford, Hick, and Birdsell Bauer 2018; Lovelock and Martin 2016). There has been less empirical examination of the experiences of family caregivers for seniors. To help remedy this, our research, guided by intersectional care (Cohen et al. 2021; Versey 2017; Zajicek et al. 2006) and feminist care theory (Duffy 2011; England 2005; Folbre 2012), investigates how Canadian families arrange and think about senior care and asks what government can better do to support them. The research draws on in-depth interviews with 57 unpaid caregivers for seniors (who are living at home or in supported living situations such as retirement homes and long-term care) across Canada. Preliminary findings highlight the consequential influence of defining care moments : that is, instances in which the care requirements of seniors shift rapidly. At these crucial points in time, many caregivers describe adverse mental and physical health effects, as well as lost opportunities related to employment, leisure, and self-care. Yet while some caregivers rebound relatively quickly and find a new equilibrium that works for them, others do not, struggling for years in unsustainable care circumstances. These varying responses to defining care moments reveal disparities in access to care support and services based on social (class, gender, race, and ethnicity) and geographic (municipality population size and remoteness) locations. Caregiving inequities were commonly augmented by service access barriers due to Canada’s “messy” patchwork system of senior care, characterized by challenges to finding information about care services and long waitlists, leading to time-consuming and stressful care management responsibilities for family caregivers. Our research uncovers complex dynamics which influence experiences of and decisions on care arrangements, and their consequential impacts on caregivers work-life balance and mental health. It deepens understandings of the current senior care landscape in Canada, and the oft-hidden role of family caregivers, and offers concrete policy solutions to better support Canadian seniors and their unpaid caregivers. Our research will also contribute more broadly to scholarly literature on caregiver work-family conflict, social inequality, and welfare state policy.