Abstract
Place-based responses to aging assume the availability of a) a safe home environment and b) human labour to support healthy aging in the home space. Such requirements are often met by the adult children of parents living in a city or country, far from the care recipient. While considerable scholarly attention has been directed at carers and their ‘burden’, providing assistance to a loved one living with chronic illness or disability, less has been devoted to the forms of health work long distance carers are involved in that ensures the home is maintained as a site of care. Such forms of health work go beyond administrative and emotional support and can include the maintenance of culture, family relationships, and memories - vital aspects of health that are invisible in neoliberal (Canada) and authoritarian (China) welfare states. Using surveys and semi-structured interviews with long distance family carers residing in Halifax, Canada while caring for a loved one in Canada or China, the paper responds to the question - What does family caring entail for long distance family carers and how are they supported? The research provides a comparative analysis of two distinct experiences of sociocultural norms, citizenship status, and caregiving responsibilities in order to determine how family carers can be better supported in managing their role.
Presenters
Mary Rita HollandNancy's Chair in Women's Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University, Nova Scotia, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Social and Cultural Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Long-distance, Family Carers, Comparative, Analysis, Canada, China, Health, Geography
