Caring for others. Social representations of the women who care for the elderly in a retirement home

Abstract

This article presents preliminary results of an ongoing research project. The purpose is to inquire into the kinds of bonds that are constructed between caregivers –formal and informal– and the elderly in different scenarios of care. Our initial approaches reveal the social representations that the staff of a retirement home have about their elderly residents. These representations provide insight into the characteristics of the care bonds that develop. The methodology was based on in-depth, open interviews to access images of old age, care, and the female gender, and their influence on the construction of bonds between caregivers and the elderly. In the initial stage, we were able to see that the image of institutionalized elderly people, in the perspective of caregivers, recognizes a set of losses involving residents’ cognitive, physical, and social abilities, which form a negative model of the aging process that associates it with dependencies and dispossessions that reduce the autonomy and independence of elderly subjects