Over the past few decades in Europe, and particularly in Italy, progressive ageing of the population has been recorded. This is due to two parallel phenomena: an increase in life expectancy and a declining birth rate. The growing need of elderly care has been faced by European countries with different strategies that follow a North-South gradient and stem from social, cultural, religious and institutional factors (Esping Anderson, 1990, Bettio and Plantenga 2004, Reher, 1998; EOP, 2010). In particular European countries from the Mediterranean basin, including Italy, rely on “family centred” models of welfare, where historically the family has shouldered the burden of looking after its older parents, both financially and in terms of assistance. Similarly, it is still the family that supports the new generations facing the lack of job opportunities, even if these generations have already left the family nucleus, in a reciprocal pact that reflects the structural absence of institutional answers (Billari, 2004). In northern Europe prevails a “non family centred” model: here, for the past few decades, elderly care has been managed through reforms that involve institutions taking charge of those who are not self-sufficient. The need of care is satisfied by the public sector, mainly through the supply of formal services (care provided to the elderly by paid and qualified personnel) and, residually, through the financial support of activities by informal caregivers (care provided for free by relatives, neighbours, friends). There is a North-South gradient across Europe in the distribution of formal/informal care for the elderly population: in northern Europe, the elderly over 80 who are not self-sufficient receive formal assistance in 82% of the cases; whereas the figure drops to 28% when one takes southern European countries into consideration. Vice-versa, nine elderly people out of ten receive informal care in Mediterranean countries and the said figure drops lower and lower the more one moves northwards in Europe (see Figure 2). In the majority of cases, the family member who cares for the elderly is female since women are regarded as better suited to taking on home and family responsibilities. Moreover, amongst women, daughters are those who are most represented in the role of caregiver to parents over 80. And hence the term “sandwich generation” describing a generation of adults, and of women in particular, who are engaged on two fronts as caregivers for their elderly parents and for their children or grandchildren who are still not self-sufficient. Providing continuing care to one’s elderly parents may involve sacrifices in one’s career or leisure time, leading to risks of isolation or burnout suffered by the habitual caregiver. Particularly in the absence of a Long Term Care (LTC) network of services that might provide the caregiver with some support in the difficult assistance task. These are the results of a research conducted by Brenna and Di Novi (2015) on SHARE data. The study shows that caregiver daughters living in European Mediterranean countries, including Italy, have a 10% greater probability of suffering from mental disorders compared to their peers who do not provide care to their elderly parents. The figure increases when the care is of a particularly intensive nature (helping the elderly with their personal care, dressing and feeding them) and/or when the number of hours dedicated to care-giving increases on a weekly basis. Results are not significant for caregivers living in northern or central European countries, most probably as these countries rely on models of formal care supporting caregivers in their tasks. Indeed, while northern countries are characterised by generous and universal LTC systems, the percentage of resources addressed to LTC in southern European countries is on average very low. As a result, a woman living in northern Europe can freely choose to provide care to her parents more out of personal affection rather than actual necessity, as she is aware of the existence of an institutional support network. Whereas in Mediterranean countries there is no choice and hence a higher risk of isolation. Policies providing support to the caregiver, such as for example the possibility of receiving retribution for the time dedicated to one’s parents, or the establishment of “information desks” addressing the application for care of the elderly who are not self-sufficient, or even the activation of “respite care” offering a period of respite to the habitual caregiver who will temporarily be substituted by qualified personnel, should also be established in Italy in order to lessen the burden that family members taking care of an elderly relative are subjected to.
Invecchiamento della popolazione e cure formali e informali: il gradiente Nord-Sud Europa
Brenna E;
2016-01-01
Abstract
Over the past few decades in Europe, and particularly in Italy, progressive ageing of the population has been recorded. This is due to two parallel phenomena: an increase in life expectancy and a declining birth rate. The growing need of elderly care has been faced by European countries with different strategies that follow a North-South gradient and stem from social, cultural, religious and institutional factors (Esping Anderson, 1990, Bettio and Plantenga 2004, Reher, 1998; EOP, 2010). In particular European countries from the Mediterranean basin, including Italy, rely on “family centred” models of welfare, where historically the family has shouldered the burden of looking after its older parents, both financially and in terms of assistance. Similarly, it is still the family that supports the new generations facing the lack of job opportunities, even if these generations have already left the family nucleus, in a reciprocal pact that reflects the structural absence of institutional answers (Billari, 2004). In northern Europe prevails a “non family centred” model: here, for the past few decades, elderly care has been managed through reforms that involve institutions taking charge of those who are not self-sufficient. The need of care is satisfied by the public sector, mainly through the supply of formal services (care provided to the elderly by paid and qualified personnel) and, residually, through the financial support of activities by informal caregivers (care provided for free by relatives, neighbours, friends). There is a North-South gradient across Europe in the distribution of formal/informal care for the elderly population: in northern Europe, the elderly over 80 who are not self-sufficient receive formal assistance in 82% of the cases; whereas the figure drops to 28% when one takes southern European countries into consideration. Vice-versa, nine elderly people out of ten receive informal care in Mediterranean countries and the said figure drops lower and lower the more one moves northwards in Europe (see Figure 2). In the majority of cases, the family member who cares for the elderly is female since women are regarded as better suited to taking on home and family responsibilities. Moreover, amongst women, daughters are those who are most represented in the role of caregiver to parents over 80. And hence the term “sandwich generation” describing a generation of adults, and of women in particular, who are engaged on two fronts as caregivers for their elderly parents and for their children or grandchildren who are still not self-sufficient. Providing continuing care to one’s elderly parents may involve sacrifices in one’s career or leisure time, leading to risks of isolation or burnout suffered by the habitual caregiver. Particularly in the absence of a Long Term Care (LTC) network of services that might provide the caregiver with some support in the difficult assistance task. These are the results of a research conducted by Brenna and Di Novi (2015) on SHARE data. The study shows that caregiver daughters living in European Mediterranean countries, including Italy, have a 10% greater probability of suffering from mental disorders compared to their peers who do not provide care to their elderly parents. The figure increases when the care is of a particularly intensive nature (helping the elderly with their personal care, dressing and feeding them) and/or when the number of hours dedicated to care-giving increases on a weekly basis. Results are not significant for caregivers living in northern or central European countries, most probably as these countries rely on models of formal care supporting caregivers in their tasks. Indeed, while northern countries are characterised by generous and universal LTC systems, the percentage of resources addressed to LTC in southern European countries is on average very low. As a result, a woman living in northern Europe can freely choose to provide care to her parents more out of personal affection rather than actual necessity, as she is aware of the existence of an institutional support network. Whereas in Mediterranean countries there is no choice and hence a higher risk of isolation. Policies providing support to the caregiver, such as for example the possibility of receiving retribution for the time dedicated to one’s parents, or the establishment of “information desks” addressing the application for care of the elderly who are not self-sufficient, or even the activation of “respite care” offering a period of respite to the habitual caregiver who will temporarily be substituted by qualified personnel, should also be established in Italy in order to lessen the burden that family members taking care of an elderly relative are subjected to.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
