Emergence and Significance of Transnational Elderly Care Arrangements

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Cornelia Schweppe
• Subject Area: Education Systems and Educational Institutions
• Term: from 2016 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 278860074

With the number of Europeans aged 80 and over rapidly increasing, new solutions are needed for the provision of long-term care (LTC) for the elderly in almost all EU countries. The research will investigate the emergence of transnational care arrangements and their potential as solutions to problems experienced by policymakers and older people and their families in two countries with different LTC regimes: Germany and the Netherlands. Comparing how and to what extent transnational arrangements have emerged, and what actors and factors have driven their development, will provide important new insights into the effects of national LTC regimes and recent policy developments. A central hypothesis is that different LTC regimes provide different incentives and opportunities for transnational arrangements. The research is innovative in its focus on how care packages are actively constructed by individuals and families and how these micro-level packages are related to (changes in) national policies and macro-level care mixes. The research will use a mixed-method approach and it will proceed in two phases: 1) a broad mapping study to explore the prevalence and characteristics of migrant live-in 24/7 care arrangements in Germany and the Netherlands and to identify the actors involved as well as the laws and policies that regulate or affect the use of these arrangements.2) in-depth case studies of how these arrangements are used by older people and their families.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Netherlands
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Anita Böcker, Ph.D.