Sustainable care in a familialist regime : coping with elderly care in Slovenia

Filipovič Hrast, Maša (author), Hlebec, Valentina (author), Rakar, Tatjana (author)

In countries with prevalent family care and less developed care services, it is important to understand the ways families cope with the care needs of their frail family members as part of policy learning to make care systems more sustainable. Filial care is a vital element of family care, yet is significantly restrained by the involvement of carers in the labour market; unequal gender distribution of the care burden; and insufficient recognition of, and policy support, for family care. This article considered the issue of the sustainability of elderly care in a familialist country, Slovenia, by identifying the coping strategies families adopt for the provision of care. To this end, in-depth qualitative databased on a purposeful sample of 55 community-resident users of social home care services and their 55 family carers were used. We identified five external coping strategies: use of formal care services, use of extended family network, use of wider community network, cohabitation, and home adjustments. Among internal strategies, we detected work-related adjustments; abandoning leisure activities; abandoning vacations; establishing new routines; accepting and finding satisfaction in care; increased psychological distress, such as worries and overburdening; and some unmet care recipient needs. Very few strategies may be described as supported by policy actions, despite such support being essential for increasing the sustainability of the family-based care model.

• Language: English
• Keywords: care system, familialism, Slovenia, coping strategies, carers, care users
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences; ZF - Faculty of Health Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: 15 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 12, iss. 20, art. 8498
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-134457
• UDC: 364-783(497.4)
• ISSN on article: 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su12208498
• COBISS.SI-ID: 33006595
• Publication date in RUL: 17.01.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sustainability
• Shortened title: Sustainability
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2071-1050
• COBISS.SI-ID: 5324897

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 15.10.2020

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: nega starostnikov, nega na domu, družina, negovalci, Slovenija

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: J5-8235
• Name: Prepoznavanje in razumevanje vloge dejavnikov države blaginje za oskrbo starih ljudi živečih v skupnosti v Sloveniji in Avstriji

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P5-0200
• Name: Kakovost življenja družbenih skupin