Caregiver recognition in elder care: ethnographic perspectives on the opposition between family care and paid care

Abstract

This text examines the representations of the figure of family and professional caregiver in home care for the elderly in Italy.  Institutional recognition of care in the home environment is based on an op-position between, on the one hand, free care dictated by an affective and familial bond and, on the other hand, paid care work. Through the perspectives of participants in family care support projects for the non-self-sufficient elderly in Emilia-Romagna, I compare the recognition of the family caregiver with that of the qualified family caregiver. The results show a discrepancy between the previously mentioned opposition and social actors' perspectives on the roles of family caregiver and professional assistance. Thus, there is a need to become aware of how this opposition hinders interventions directed at supporting both family caregivers and working women engaged in providing care in the home environment.