Sustainable Care: Facing Global Ageing More Effectively

Dear Colleagues,

Population ageing is happening across the world, and at a faster pace in less economically developed countries than has ever been observed before. Across the globe, changes in demographic and socio-economic structures require the creation of new sustainable care models that are effective in enabling large segments of the society who are growing older to continue contributing to the economic and social dynamics of the society while ensuring meeting the care needs for those requiring support. At the core of long-term care provision is its workforce, where the provision of care is essentially a human activity relaying on relationship building, compassion and competency. Thus ensuring an adequate supply of well-trained and highly skilled care workforce becomes a priority within such systems. However, most economically developed countries have aged populations, with a shrinking working age population. Global mobility widens the pool of works and allows many countries to rely heavily on migrant labour to fill such gaps. The latter creates new care gaps in migrants’ home countries, as their own populations are growing older with increasing care needs.

At the same time, new technologies are carving an important role in maintaining and enhancing care systems. From assistive technologies aiming at delaying intensive care needs and enhancing individuals’ independence to organisational tools and recruitment platforms, technologies are also facilitating new models of care such as caring at a distance, whether it is by informal family members or by professionals.

One might argue that ensuring the dignity and wellbeing of those requiring care and support through high quality and enabling support should be the core ethos of a sustainable and effective care system. Yet with increasing fiscal pressures to provide such support, the wellbeing of the workforce can be easily overlooked, despite a clear link between workers’ wellbeing and quality of care.

This special issue welcomes articles that addresses the concept of creating sustainable care from a global perspective. We welcome empirical and conceptual papers from different disciplines that addresses some of the issues highlighted above. Articles could address the situation in one country or region or adopt a more comparative approach. In particular, we would welcome articles that addresses one or more of the following themes:

• Conceptual development of the meaning and definitions of sustainable care, who are the core actors and how do they interact?
• How migration and mobility contribute to, or hinder, the effectiveness of sustainable care systems
• The role of technology in shaping and influencing sustainable care
• The workforce, emotional work and quality of care
• Developing models of care, including the role of social capital and informal support, especially in low and middle income countries
• The interplay between individuals, their families, the formal care workforce and systems of care

Prof. Dr. Shereen Hussein
Guest Editor

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• Assistive technology
• care workforce
• migrant labour
• long-term care
• ageing populations