Title: Informal Carers in Old Age Care: Observations Through the Lens of Critical Discourse Analysis
Stream: Public Policy
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
Authors:
Beatrice Lam, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong
Wai Leung Chan, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong
Abstract:
As a model of care for older adults, ‘Ageing in Place’ emphasizes enabling older adults to continue to live in their familiar environment for as long as possible and is central to policy on elderly services in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, ‘Ageing in Place’ often entails heavy reliance on informal carers (especially family members); this could bear negative personal consequences on informal carers and undermine the quality of the care they provide. Through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper explores the constructions of informal carers for older adults in Hong Kong. We seek to interpret relevant discourses in relation to wider policy and social contexts. A selected number of publications by local social services agents and advocacy groups are read and reread; relevant discussion on issues, problems, and/or policy options and solutions are coded for analysis. It is found that the complexity of the tasks of informal carers for older adults and the multidimensionality of informal carers’ needs are increasingly recognized. Nonetheless, informal carers tend to be constructed as service users; ‘problems’ of care are presented as a matter of training as well as accessibility, diversity, and flexibility of support services. The neoliberal assumptions underlying a family-based care model have largely gone unchallenged, whereas the tensions and ambivalences arising out of the dynamics and process of negotiation of care relations have drawn relatively less attention. Implications are discussed.
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