Making the invisible visible: The life and time(s) of informal caregivers

Abstract

Care for people with a disability or the frail elderly can be provided either formally (through organized services and special residential facilities) or informally by relatives, friends, or others within the home. Interest in the situation of informal caregivers arises from two sources – theoretical issues and practical policy concerns. In the theoretical realm, the development of feminist analyses of social policy led to the "discovery" of the informal care routinely supplied by women in families (Land 1978; Ungerson and Kember 1997). This coincided with a change in policy direction, away from institutional care toward "care in the community." Since the late 1970s, governments have become increasingly aware of the value of informal caring. As populations have aged and the costs of social support systems for the oldest members of society have increased, national policies across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries increased the proportion of care provided by informal (and therefore less expensive) caregivers in the home (Hennessy 1995; Jacobzone 1999; Jenson and Jacobzone 2000; Neysmith 2000). The public discussion of informal care has simultaneously emphasized its social and financial benefits and revealed anxiety about the hidden demands placed on women caregivers (Brody 1981; Finch and Groves 1983). Time-diaries offer a potentially unique opportunity to capture the daily labor process of caring and to study how caregiving affects day-to-day activities.