[Distance caregiving: an issue among sociopolitical actors?]

Caregiving from a distance is understudied as well as rarely sociopolitically debated in Germany. Accordingly, distance caregiving is a type of informal care work that has been little acknowledged in social law.

This article addresses the issue of how aware sociopolitical experts in Germany are of distance caregiving. Moreover, it points out the challenges the experts perceive in the legal framework and which solutions they can identify.

Guided interviews were conducted with six experts from sociopolitical areas in Germany with points of connection to care politics (ministries, associations, organizations). The interviews were analyzed based on the method of summarizing qualitative content analysis (according to Mayring).

Even though distance caregiving has played a minor role among the sociopolitical experts, they were aware of individual aspects of this topic, mostly based on having been personally affected. Due to this experience they argued for a broader understanding of care including for example organizational support. They criticized the lack of sociopolitical consideration of distance caregivers and among other things demanded a functioning local support system.

The interviews indicated a specific and personal awareness of distance caregiving; however, the findings pointed to stronger criticism of the overall situation regarding caregiving relatives. Thus, despite all recent reforms in distance caregiving there is still a need for action on the topic of caregiving relatives.