“Including migrant live-in care workers in Caring Communities in Austria - Results from the "MigraCare" transdisciplinary project”
Dr.in Silvia Wojczewski
Postdoctoral Researcher
Simona Durisova, MA
Senior Scientist
Center for Public Health
Department of Primary Care Medicine
Abstract:
Live- in care work is characterized by precarious working and living conditions following logics of neoliberal transnational migration and care regimes. In Austria, there are almost 58’000 live-in care workers working in two- or four-week shifts (or longer) to care for older people at home. They travel on a monthly basis between Austria and their countries of origin - mostly Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary and more. The transdisciplinary project MigraCare is one of five projects in the Caring Communities for Future lab from the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft – OIS Center. With a team of interest groups, (live-in) care workers and researchers it works towards connecting live-in workers with other involved groups in home care: with community nurses as well as with family carers/informal carers. Within the project various participatory methods are used for reaching that objective, of which some will be presented during the ZPH Lunch Seminar. Besides much needed transformations on macro and meso-levels, the results of the project show that the live-in care workers – on a micro level - wish for a better relationship and communication with the family relatives and their care recipient and that the live-in caregivers wish for continuous education activities and support.