A special focus of this research topic is the international migration of health & care workers. How can we create conditions that give migrants access to health care professions in primary care? How can informal care networks be strengthened in our societies, in which especially women and migrants are involved in long-term care (caring relatives, live-in care workers)? How can good and fair working conditions be created to ensure good care? The concept of intersectionality of e.g. gender, ethnicity/nationality and social class is relevant for the focus. Another focus of this research area is the study of global care chains/networks. Global care chain refers to a redistribution of paid or unpaid care tasks around the world, especially in childcare and care of the elderly. In these global care chains, migrant workers take on care, household, or nursing tasks in the destination country, while their own children/parents remain in the home country and are cared for by other (female) family members or employees.
Furthermore, the aim is to explore how health services for migrants can be improved and how (socio-economically and health-wise) vulnerable groups can be better and more sustainably integrated into (public) health measures.
Contact person
Dr.in Silvia Wojczewski
Tel.: +43 (0)1 40160 34613
Projects
Migra Care: Including live-in care workers in care networks in Austria
MigraCare aims at strengthening the resilience and social recognition of live-in care workers (24hour careworkers) who mostly are women from neighbouring countries like Slovakia and Romania. These aims will be met by increasing networking with each other (in so-called care worker cafés), designing an easily accessible further education programme as well as by increasing networking activities with Community Nurses. All these activities are designed in order to foster an interface of 24h live-in care workers with the Austrian health-care network.
https://ois.lbg.ac.at/projekte-v2/migra-care/
Duration: 1.2.2023 – 31.07.2024
"Who cares for us? The role of live-in care workers for the Austrian long-term care system"
The five projects of the OIS Impact Lab "Caring Communities for Future" were on #CareTour from June to September 2023 and discussed questions of care and community together with people. The talks tool place under a wooden dome (therefore the name Dome Talks).
As part of this Care Tour organized by the Ludwig Boltzmann Society and EuroSphere, a dome talk was held in Linz on the topic "Who cares for us? The role of 24-hour live-in care for the Austrian care system" in June 2023.
The long version of this discussion can be found under the following link: https://youtu.be/WAZcpqvnx7M
OIS zam: Award for MigraCare project
On 22 and 23 of September 2023, at the Med Campus of the Johannes Kepler University Linz, a total of 63 participatory research projects by researchers and citizens were presented at the "OIS zam: Forum for Health and Wellbeing 2023" (link: https://ois.lbg.ac.at/news/programm-fuer-das-ois-zam-forum-2023-steht/) of the Open Innovation in Science Center of the Ludwig Boltzmann Society (https://ois.lbg.ac.at/). The Medical University of Vienna was represented with several research projects. Among all the projects, a total of six "OIS zam: prizes" were awarded for the first time to projects that were rated as particularly relevant by the participants. Among the winning projects is the MigraCare project, which is led by Dr. Silvia Wojczewski and the project team IG24, CuraFair, SYNYO and Ingrid Sitter/Carers Cafe Leonstein. The project aims to improve the integration of 24-hour carers into care networks in Austria and to strengthen their position in society.
The winning projects will receive financial support from the LBG OIS Centre to continue their successful research work.
Network meeting “Shaping care as community” in Graz
In home care, several people come together who often have different interests and challenges: the person who needs to be looked after and cared for, family members and, increasingly, the live-in carer who supports the family carers and are an important pillar for the healthcare system. The "Shaping care as community" network meeting in Graz in May 2024 was a first step towards bringing together and discussing the difficult positions and problems in home care, the burdens on family carers and the worries and needs of the people being cared for. At the network meeting, experiences were exchanged, needs discussed and demands formulated that will subsequently be passed on to political decision-makers. A total of around 30 people took part in the network event: Live-in carers, family carers, community nurses, as well as people from the research community and supporters who documented the event. The network meeting was a first personal exchange between family carers and live-in carers and enabled the groups to get to know each other's perspectives. The participants expressed great satisfaction with the event and a desire for the continuation of such events.
Results of an online survey 2023 - Training needs for "24-hour" live-in carers in Austria
With the aim of gaining an in-depth insight into the working and living conditions of live-in carers in Austria, the MigraCare project team conducted an online survey among live-in carers. The focus covered various dimensions including job profile, health and well-being, workload, social integration, training needs and job-related challenges of live-in carers in Austria. <Link>
Summary in slovac language: LINK
Summary in romanian language: LINK
CAVE: Community Engagement and Vulnerabilities in Coping with Epidemics
The CAVE project (Community Engagement and Vulnerabilities in Coping with Epidemics) is an interdisciplinary research project on applied pandemic research in Austria. Social sciences (medical anthropology and psychology), geosciences (geoinformatics) and representatives of social aid organizations prepare social findings during the Covid-19 pandemic for technology companies, which use them to develop communication-technological solutions for future epidemiological threats. The aim of the CAVE project is to identify vulnerable groups in Austria who are particularly at risk from epidemics quickly and precisely in order to reach them better with new communication technologies and to integrate them effectively into health measures. Social and geoscientific research focuses on the exact determination and location of vulnerable groups as well as the collection and analysis of experiences and needs of these groups in terms of communication and accessibility. The social science approach is based on the concept of "community engagement", which enables the greatest possible involvement and active participation of vulnerable people and their caregivers.
https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/forschung/projekte/cave/cave/
Duration: 1.9.2021 – 1.10.2023
EUR-HUMAN: European Refugees-Human Movement and Advisory Network
See also here.
Duration 1.1.2017 – 31.3.2018
HURAPRIM: Human Resources for Primary Health Care in Africa
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/265727/de
Duration: 1.3.2011 – 1.5.2015