Working Women Caring for Frail Elderly: Best Practices to Promote Family Reflexivity

The study analyses the conditions of women who work and care for their elder parents, in Italy, with specific emphasis on detecting best practices for frail elderly and their families, able to support the care-giving function. The study will highlight the consequences of care work on women’s careers and their job commitment, the use of flexible forms of family-work conciliation, as well as decision-making processes on whether to keep up the job or to resign. Hence, it becomes crucial to devise and implement policies and interventions that aim at caring for the elderly in a family-friendly perspective. Eight projects have been selected / identified as potential good practices and have become the subject of in-depth case studies. The quantitative analysis has allowed to sketch the profile of female caregivers in Italy, and the qualitative study has highlighted some major findings concerning the case studies. Finally, the research gives indications to professionals working alongside families and policy makers.