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Old Women's Experiences of Needing Care: Choice or Compulsion?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Jane Aronson
Jane Aronson
Affiliation:
McMaster University
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Abstract

Drawing on a qualitative study of women as givers and receivers of care, this paper explores older women's experiences of needing care. Old women find themselves in a social context in which government services are kept in the background and families are generally regarded as the proper locus of assistance to old people. Respondents described contradictions between needing support and security and wanting to adhere to cultural values of independence and self-sufficiency. Their low expectations of public services and sense of marginality in their families exacerbated these dilemmas. The fallacy of understanding old women's conduct in this constrained context as the exercise of choice is elaborated, and attention is given to ways of fostering the conditions in which elderly women can shape the kinds of supportive environments they would like to see in the future.

Résumé

Cet article utilise les données d'une étude qualitative de femmes dans le rôle de pourvoyeuses de soins pour explorer les soins que requièrent les femmes âgées. Celles-ci se retrouvent dans un milieu où les services gouvernementaux ne sont pas évidents et où les families sont appelées à fournir de l'aide aux personnes âgées. Les participantes ont décrit les contradictions qui existaient entre le besoin de recevoir de l'appui et la sécurité et entre le désir de conserver les valeurs culturelles et l'indépendance et l'autonomie. Le sentiment de marginalité qu'elles ressentent par rapport à leur famille et la déception qu'elles éprouvent face aux services publics exacerbent leur dilemme. L'article examine la notion erronée selon laquelle semble-t-il les femmes âgées auraient opté de vivre dans ces conditions restreintes, et il traite également des méthodes à adopter pour créer le milieu positif désiré.

Keywords

WomenAgingFamily CareSocial Policy
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , Autumn/automne 1990 , pp. 234 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1990

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