[Kinship help for the elderly. An exploratory study of patterns of help by female helpers]

The study is based on interviews made with women who care for an elderly relative. The activities which they perform can be classified to five basic forms of assistance: basic care and nursing, psycho-social care, obligatory attendance, house keeping, and supporting contacts to the social environment. The relationships between these women and the elderly contain a certain amount of reciprocity, which is reflected in material and emotional gratifications for the person rendering help. The burdens on the helper result from constant awareness of the decrepitude of a relative, from fear of the future, and from the necessity of constantly being in attendance of a dependent person. Women who feel burdened by their tasks perceive few rewards from the relationship, and have the impression that the person being cared for has no adequate idea of the efforts made. Because of the burdens on the relatives, the continuation of care of the elderly in their familiar social environment remains precarious. This finding is not an argument against care in familiar surroundings, but it does call attention to the importance of mobile social services for stabilizing primary assistance.