Reflections on Practice
Featured Enforced Government of the Self: Forced Dependency and Experiences of Sponsored Older Immigrants in Canada View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ivy Li
Canada’s parents/grandparents (PGP) immigration program was revised dramatically by the government in 2014 with three main changes: 1) the length of sponsor’s undertaking changed from10 years to 20 years; 2) the sponsor must meet the minimum income requirement for three consecutive years rather than previously only one year; and 3) a maximum number of applications that can be accepted was added to the program. Through in-depth interviewing sponsored parents and sponsor children, as well as community leaders and social workers, my cross-sectional qualitative study research project unfolds a comprehensive picture of the lives of older Chinese immigrants in Canada. Drawing on governmentality literature, especially Foucauldian government of the self, neo-liberalism, biopolitics and Donzelot’s “government through the family”, I examine the program and analyze reasons and implications of the policy changes. My findings reveal the design of the program, especially its enforced dependency/undertaking clause has negatively affected the life of the sponsored parents and their well-being. I argue the State utilizes the immigration program as a governance tool to distinguish its subjects as the “desirable” and the “undesirable” and transfers its responsibility to the shoulders of the unwanted immigrants such as sponsored older parents and their families by privatizing social responsibility and promoting and forging self-reliance and self-governed subjects. I argue the design of PGP immigration program and its changes indicate Canada’s immigration regime remains structurally raced, gendered, classed, and may be intertwined with other stigmatizing dynamics such as ageism, ableism, ethnocentrism etc. within the State’s power relation system.
Social Inequality in Navigating the Healthcare Maze: Care Trajectories from Hospital to Home via Intermediate Care for Older People in Norway View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Linda Kvæl
Although health inequality is a growing concern, striking differences in health and life expectancy still exist across and within OECD countries. In Oslo, the largest city of Norway, life expectancy differs with up to eight years between districts. Quality healthcare can help to reduce the social differences in health. However, research states that older people at the lower level of the social gradient have more difficulty in accessing health services. Today older persons experience early hospital discharge and several transitions between and across care levels. This patient care trajectory typically involves multiple health and social care actors. In this study, using Bourdieu’s theory of practice, we explore social inequality in access to public healthcare within care trajectories for older people in Oslo. Through observation of family meetings in intermediate care (N=14) and semi-structured interviews with older patients (N=15), relatives (N=12) and healthcare professionals (N=18), this study identifies 15 unique care trajectories from hospital to home via intermediate care from a critical realist perspective. Moving from west to east via the urban areas, there is a prominent finding of climbing down the social gradient and subsequent access to healthcare. Therefore, an overarching theme, ‘Navigating the healthcare maze’, was constructed to illuminate the study’s aim. ‘Individuality meets system’ implies a pattern where well-resourced patients and/or relatives have advantages in accessing proper care service, while ‘Having av feel for the game’, suggest that the ability in navigating the healthcare maze influence the prioritization of who receives attention and subsequent individualized healthcare.
Policy Needs of Organizations Providing Active Aging Initiatives in the Marche Region View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Riccetti Francesco, Andrea Principi, Sabrina Quattrini
Nowadays, it is widely recognised that active ageing is an important tool to ensure a better quality of life for aging population. Despite this, there are several issues in order to properly apply the active aging concept at the policy level. The study is based on the data collected through an online survey administered to organizations that implement initiatives in the field of active ageing in the Marche Region (Italy), with the aim to understand their needs in terms of policy. This is an innovative perspective, as the majority of previous studies investigate the policy needs at the micro or macro level, albeit the meso level is fundamental for the implementation of active aging initiative. Using a questionnaire with both closed-ended and open-ended questions, this study focuses on issues faced by organizations in the implementation of initiatives in the field of active aging, in order to identify policy solutions. Preliminary results show that more than half of the identified initiatives reported policy needs. Difficulties and lacks of the initiatives are grouped in six categories: help in planning and sustainability; human and economic resources; institutional support; help in promotion; digital competences; networking. It’s possible to notice that the most common issue is linked to lack of planning and organizational aspects, but also difficulties in terms of (economic and human) resources are detectable in a considerable amount of cases. The study identifies very important messages for policy makers, in order to support organizations in overcoming the variety of difficulties encountered.
