Welfare Reform on the Web (November 2002): Care of the Elderly - Overseas

ELDERLY PEOPLE'S ACCOUNTS OF HOME CARE RATIONING: MISSING VOICES IN LONG-TERM CARE POLICY DEBATES

J. Aronson

Ageing and Society, vol. 22, 2002, p. 399-418

A longitudinal study of older women in Ontario explored the impact of curtailment in public provision of home care. Three responses to unstable and rationed home care were discerned. "Taking charge" was an active response in which the women successfully impressed their particular needs and identities on home care provision. "Pushed over the edge" was a vulnerable account of insufficient and depersonalised care in which participants felt themselves practically and emotionally out of control. In "Restraining expectations" women adjusted silently and stoically to the shortcomings of home care provision.