Years of the research: 2008 - 2012
Country: Poland
Language: Polish, English, and also for other countries in their own languages
Keywords:
Abstract:
This research was focused on the possible methods and measures that individual Polish informal carers utilize in order to manage the double burden of work and care. The strategies they use are understood as conscious and systematized ways of tackling the everyday obligations in order to successfully reconcile different duties. Based on interviews with working carers (N=58), the strategies they invented (either intentionally or accidentally) were intended to remedy the stress resulting from multiple conflict situations in everyday life. These strategies were individual approaches of every carer to the often unique situation of reconciliation, which could nevertheless form a set of practical advice for the benefit of working carers in Poland, but also in other countries (see abstract of one publication).
Researchers:
Type of research: national, cross-national
Target group: Working carers
Sample:
Qualitative interviews (58 carers in Poland) with various work situation. In eight cases, this was a mother- or father-in-law. Five of the respondents were taking care of their grandparent, out of which four carers were women. One person was taking care of her aunt. The recruitment of the respondents for the interviews was carried out using two methods. Firstly, the snowballing method was used and allowed for the recruiting of 42 working carers. The snowballing method started with the family members, relatives, friends and colleagues of the researchers, as well as the interviewers and other persons involved in the realization of the project. The second method of recruitment, via the institution of Municipal Social Welfare Center in Krakow (Polish acronym: MOPS), resulted in carrying out 13 interviews. Additionally, an announcement was posted on the Polish Forum for Alzheimer Disease; however, only two caregivers contacted us and one interview was carried out. The interviews were carried out between September 2009 and June 2010 by the main interviewer (in Krakow), who was aided by two local interviewers. The interviews took place in three major geographical areas: in two large cities (Krakow (32) and Warsaw (1)), a medium-sized city (Kielce (11)) and in a rural area (Witnica (15)).
Aims/Objectives/Background:
In the near future, a dramatic increase of older people in the population of Poland (as in other Central and Eastern European countries) will be observed, with various social and policy implications (Hoff 2011). The phenomenon will affect many areas of social and political life, and it will influence the labour market as the working population will not only be ageing, but also shrinking. Moreover, the growing number of seniors in society, even though enjoying better health, will need care in many forms (Österle 2010). The basic care needs of older persons are currently mostly covered by the family members (Golinowska 2010). However, due to changes in family patterns (more divorces, increasing mobility, solitary widowhood, fewer multi-generational families) (Slany 2002; Sytuacja demograficzna 2010), the Polish family will not be able to provide care for its growing number of dependent seniors. This trend will not only be observed in Poland, but will also occur in other European countries where care is provided primarily by family (Drożdżak et al. 2013). The cross-national study was to answer the following research questions: What conflict- and stress-situations between work and care are typical among the caregivers? What strategies do carers use to reconcile work and care for an older individual? What kind of influence does the qualification level of the carers have with regard to the reconciliation of work and care for an older individual? What kind of influence do the employment and income situations of the caregivers’ households have on the reconciliation of work and care? Within the context of the actual parameters of employment and family chores, what kind of gender inequalities are problematic in the results of the reconciliation? Which kind of support at the public, company or societal level is most efficient for the reconciliation of employment and care for older individuals? Are there any specific individual conflicts or strategies related to the reconciliation of work and care for an older individual when comparing different countries?
Findings/outcome/conclusion/research questions:
The strategies used by the caregivers were intertwining with each other, and thus the possibility to precisely draw relations between the strategies used and the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents is problematic. The utilization of the different strategies was more visibly related to the resources available to the caregivers, such as members of family, financial support, accessibility of state support, as well as their work arrangements. The strategies identified as different patterns of using the possible resources in order to successfully reconcile the caring obligations with work. Our results are in line with other studies that found the negative impact of combining employment and care in terms of mental and physical health (Lee et al. 2007); interpersonal relationships (Mooney et al. 2002; Keck & Saraceno 2009), and financial and employment situations (Bernard et al. 2002; Crompton et al. 2003). Therefore, it needs to be highlighted that the success of reconciliation is an outcome of internal and external factors, as well as the utilization of available resources by the carers. The instrumental and psychological strategies identified in this research are the conceptual and theoretical explanation of the ways the working caregivers deal with the situation of constant management of double obligations and the conflicts arising from it. They form an original input into the theoretical and empirical debates about the increasingly urgent problem of sustainable care arrangements in modern European countries. The strategies developed by the caregivers were aimed at decreasing the stress resulting from multiple conflict situations in everyday life. What needs to be underlined here is that the potential of successful reconciliation of work and care lies within the working carers themselves. The respondents rarely expressed the willingness to give up either of the tasks, and therefore the strategies recommended for them should not be aimed at proposing “either work or care”, but rather “both work and care”. In order to successfully manage the situation of reconciliation of work and care for an older person, not only the carers need to be included, but also the policy makers, local agencies, central governments, employers, and other potentially interested organizations.
Publication/reports: - Stypinska, J., & Perek-Bialas, J. (2014). Working Carers in Poland-Successful Strategies of Reconciliation of Work and Care of an Older Adult. Anthropological notebooks, 20(1), 87-104. - Stypinska, J., & Perek-Bialas, J. (2011). Carers@ Work. Carers between work and care—Conflict or chance? Results of interviews with working carers in Poland. - Perek-Białas, J., & Stypińska, J. (2010). Łączenie pracy i opieki nad osobą starszą–wpływ na jakość życia opiekuna,[w:], D. Kałuża, P. Szukalski (red.). Jakość życia seniorów w XXI wieku. Ku aktywności, 136-148. - Hoff, A., Reichert, M., Hamblin, K. A., Perek-Bialas, J., & Principi, A. (2014). Informal and formal reconciliation strategies of older peoples’ working carers: the European carers@ work project. Society, Health & Vulnerability, 5. Reichert, M., Franke, A., Döhner, H., Kohler, S., Bäcker, G., Kümmerling, A., ... & Stypinska, J. Carers@ Work–Reconciling Employment and Care for Older Family Members in Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK Presenters on behalf of the Carers@ Work research consortium: Dr. Kate A. Hamblin Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford, 66 Banbury Road, Oxford.
Online publication/reports/links:
http://www.carersatwork.tu-dortmund.de/en/
Financed by: WV Foundation
Contact person: Jolanta Perek-Białas, jolanta.perek-bialas@uj.edu.pl
Copyright
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