EXPLORING THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MECHANISMS IN DETERMINING THE RECONCILIATION OF PAID WORK AND ELDERCARE

Globally, an increasing cohort of mostly middle-aged working caregivers are confronted with various demands, stressors and burdens as they seek to reconcile paid work with informal care for an old relative. This study focuses on working informal caregivers and examines the social mechanisms affecting their work-eldercare reconciliation. Drawing on Informal Care Model (ICM), we conducted a qualitative inquiry to examine how three pillars of the social context, family, workplace and community, support or impede primary caregivers' ability to reconcile paid work with eldercare. Semi-structured interviews with employed primary caregivers aged 43-60 form the basis of the study.