Ae. Joseph et Bc. Hallman, OVER-THE-HILL AND FAR AWAY - DISTANCE AS A BARRIER TO THE PROVISION OF ASSISTANCE TO ELDERLY RELATIVES, Social science & medicine, 46(6), 1998, pp. 631-639
Citations number
42
Categorie Soggetti
Social Sciences, Biomedical","Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath
This paper considers the impact of the distance between employed careg
ivers and their elderly relatives on the provision of various forms of
family-based assistance (''eldercare''), and in so doing it contribut
es to two overlapping literatures, one on the geography of care for el
derly persons and the other on eldercare as a ''work and family'' issu
e. The paper also seeks to interpret and understand the spatiality of
eldercare in light of evolving public policy on the care of dependent
populations, and does so with an eye to the highly gendered nature of
family caregiving. The empirical portion of the paper draws on a natio
nal survey of work and family conducted by GARNET (The Canadian Aging
Research Network). Analysis of data for 1149 respondents with eldercar
e responsibilities reveals significant distance-decay effects in the a
verage (weekly) number of hours devoted to eldercare. However, disaggr
egation by gender reveals that only male caregivers display this norma
tive behaviour. Analysis of the average time-distances at which partic
ular types of assistance are provided reveals a similar ''gender gap''
-women are willing to travel farther, more often, than male caregivers
. The results suggest that the reconceptualization of aging as a ''pri
vate'' problem, to be attended to (by women) in the family and communi
ty, will particularly affect the careers and family lives of female ca
regivers, for they are more likely than their male counterparts to tak
e on more travel and try to squeeze more into already tight time budge
ts. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.