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An exploratory qualitative study on relationships between older people and home care workers in South Korea: the view from family carers and service providers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2013

YONGHO CHON
YONGHO CHON*
Affiliation:
Department of Elderly Welfare, Namseoul University, Cheonan, South Korea.
*
Address for correspondence: Yongho Chon, Department of Elderly Welfare, Namseoul University, Cheonan, South Korea. E-mail: yongho.chon@gmail.com
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Abstract

Although the proportion of older people using home care services has significantly increased in East Asian countries, the issue of the relationships between older people and home care workers in the East Asian context has received scant attention from scholars. This exploratory qualitative study aims to explore these relationships under the new Korean long-term care insurance system. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 family carers and private-sector home care service providers (home care workers and provider managers). The findings show that while the majority of family carers interviewed reported that their relationships were good, the majority of service providers' responses were more negative. Service providers stated that they experienced a number of difficulties that affected their relationships with older clients, including excessive demands or sexual harassment by the older people in their care, exposure to unsafe working environments, and poor treatment in terms of pay and conditions. The findings suggest that stable and good relationships between home care workers and their clients have not been secured in Korea's long-term care system.

Keywords

home care servicehome care workerrelationshiplong-term careKorea
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , March 2015 , pp. 629 - 652
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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