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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on October 23, 2007
British Journal of Social Work 2008 38(8):1572-1587; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcm073
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Themes in Family Care-Giving: Implications for Social Work Practice with Older Adults

Joanie Sims-Gould and Anne Martin-Matthews

Dr. Joanie Sims-Gould is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow jointly funded by the Nexus Home Care Project (University of British Columbia) and the Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population project (McMaster University). Her research interests include caregiving, home support, social support, intergenerational relations, social work practice with older adults and aging in rural environments.

Dr. Anne Martin-Matthews is a Professor of Family Studies in the School of Social Work and Family Studies at the University of British Columbia and Scientific Director of the national Institute of Aging of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Her publications include a book Widowhood in Later Life, three edited volumes as special issues of the Canadian Journal on Aging. She has also written over 125 papers on aging, social support, caregiving, health, intergenerational relations, work-family balance, and aging in rural environments.

Correspondence to Joanie Sims-Gould, MSW, Ph.D. School of Social Work and Family Studies, The University of British Columbia, 2080 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada. E-mail: simsg{at}interchange.ubc.ca


  Abstract

This study advances the understanding of family care-giving by examining the provision of care to an older relative by adult children. It focuses on examining ‘who helps whom’ by extending analyses beyond the typical dyadic focus of care-giving in later life. The data for this research are derived from CARNET: The Canadian Aging Research Network’s survey of employed Canadians. Specifically, the analysis focuses on verbatim data collected from fifty-five CARNET respondents with significant care-giving responsibilities. Through in-depth analysis of verbatim data, five themes in care-giving are identified: the presence and importance of absent care-givers, the presence of multiple care recipients, the participation of men in helping and care-giving, the balance of direct and assistive help, and the presence of paid helpers in care-giving networks. Three descriptive care-giving vignettes are used to illustrate the five themes. Conclusions underscore the implications for professional practice, policy and research when the lens of care-giving is extended to include multiple care-givers and care recipients.

Keywords: older adults, family care-giving, helping in care-giving, absent care-givers, men as care-givers, paid care-givers


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