In the past decades public care systems in many developed countries have dealt with the pressures for social and financial sustainability they are facing witha shift towards enhanced user-choice and competition, increased targeting of benefits to those in greater need, greater reliance on informal caregivers and devolved responsibilities to lower levels of government. As a consequence, care utilisation and access have become increasingly dependent on criteria beyond the influence of many users, parents, or family members, including social and financial capital. This thematic session addresses an issue that has been relatively overlooked in the context of the aforementioned transformations of care: the impact of changing institutional or care arrangements on socio-economic or class inequalities in the access, use and outcomes of different types of care, both from the perspectives of care recipients (e.g. frail older or disabled adults) and their families (e.g. grand-parents, informal caregivers). Contributions to this thematic session are invited that investigate developments in care (childcare, long-term care for older people, or both) in Europe and beyond, using qualitative, quantitative or multi-method research approaches. We particularly welcome papers with a longitudinal design or a comparative focus so as to better capture the impact of institutional design or care practices on unequal patterns of access, use and outcomes in the care sector.
Discussants
Chiara Saraceno, WZB Berlin (confirmed)
Ricardo Rodrigues, European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research or
Andrea E. Schmidt, Austrian Public Health Institute
Stream convenors
Ricardo Rodrigues, European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, Austria, rodrigues@euro.centre.org
Andrea E. Schmidt, Austrian Public Health Institute, Austria, andrea.schmidt@goeg.at