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Combining Employment and Caregiving: An Intricate Juggling Act*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Nancy Guberman  and
Pierre Maheu
Nancy Guberman
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Montréal
Pierre Maheu
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Montréal
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Abstract

This article examines the process which allows caregivers to combine employment and eldercare. Using an interactionist approach, the authors present the factors which determine this process, based on a qualitative study with 25 caregivers. The article proposes that the effects of eldercare on employment are the result of the degree to which caregivers manage to maintain balance between different life spheres: personal and social life, family life, caregiving and employment. This balance is achieved by a complex process of co-ordination, negotiation, and mediation which the authors call “juggling work” and which itself is determined by a series of factors, conditions and contextual elements.

Résumé

Cet article examine le processus qui permet aux soignantes familiales de combiner un emploi et la prise en charge d'une personne âgée dépendante. S'inscrivant dans un cadre d'analyse interactionniste, les auteurs présentent les facteurs qui déterminent ce processus à partir d'une recherche auprès de 25 soignantes, utilisant une méthodologie qualitative. Il est proposé que les effets de la prise en charge sur l'emploi sont la résultante du degré d'atteinte par la personne soignante du maintien de l'équilibre entre les divers sphères de sa vie: vie personnelle et sociale, vie familiale, prise en charge et emploi. Ce maintien de l'équilibre est assuré par un travail complexe de coordination, de médiation, de négociation, lequel est déterminé par un ensemble de facteurs, de conditone et d'éléments de contexte.

Keywords

CaregivingEmploymentCaregivers.Aideemploiaidants.
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , printemps/Spring 1999 , pp. 84 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1999

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