Digital (In)Equalities in Intergenerational Care Relationships Among Older People Living Alone View Digital Media

Colloquium
Miranda Leontowitsch,  Kieran Walsh,  Hanna Sjögren,  Frank Oswald,  Camilla Malm,  Jeff Hearn,  Charlotta Niemistö,  Clary Krekula,  Aivita Putnina  

The digital age adds new cultural expectations of care, collaboration and mutuality, and has the potential to perpetuate inequalities between generations, income groups and countries due to available care resources and infrastructure. Living alone raises specific challenges to care work and on and off-line caring relationships. Digitalisation has contributed to the connectedness of young and old generations at the same time as increasing support needs for older people coming to terms with digital developments both in terms of equipment and life administration. The European project EQualCare aims to further understanding of, and policy development on, the intersections of digitalisation with intergenerational care work and care relationships of older people living alone, and to contribute to reducing inequalities through collaboration and participatory research. The colloquium will report on the findings from Finland, Germany, Latvia and Sweden, with paper one (Clary Krekula) presenting the outcome of the national critical policy analyses and focussing on how digitalisation is related to societal age relations and age normalities. Paper two (Miranda Leontowitsch) shares results from the participatory research across eight co-researcher groups and focus on how older people living alone are negotiating increasing (digital) care needs for themselves and others. Paper three (Charlotta Niemistö and Jeff Hearn) presents the recommendations developed collaboratively with the co-researchers and on the basis of the policy review, and paper four (Aivita Putnina and Ilze Mileiko) provides a critical reflection of the international collaboration and its handling of creative methods. The findings are synthesized by Kieran Walsh.