Care Needs of Elderly Migrants in Austria

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  • Bernhard Perchinig
  • Katharina Schaur

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/12128112.3359

Klíčová slova:

ageing, elderly migrants, care needs, culturally sensitive care, migrants´ health

Abstrakt

In Austria, migrants who arrived in the 1960s and 70s (“guestworkers”) were often supported very little in terms of language classes, education and other integration measures, as they were expected (and often themselves expected) to return to their country of origin eventually. In fact, most “guest workers” and their families became permanent residents. Now, the ageing of this generation of unexpected residents poses myriad challenges to the Austrian health care system. Although these challenges were foreseeable, care providers and state institutions have been reluctant to respond or are only lately beginning to respond to migrants’ needs, in particular the need of language translation services and culturally sensitive approaches. This paper provides an empirical perspective on these challenges from ex- Yugoslav, Turkish and Philippine elderly migrants’ point of view. For them, three topics interlink: On the individual level, they often face difficult access to a health care system that is not reflective of migrants’ needs; at the level of the older generation – their own parents and in-laws –, responding to care obligations for relatives still residing in the country of origin conflicts with the regulations of migration regimes; and at the level of the younger generation – their children –, there are many open questions and tensions around care expectations which the younger generation may be unwilling or unable to fulfil. The paper is based on a research project funded by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Integration, which aimed to analyse care needs and expectations of elderly migrants from the origin countries of ex-Yugoslavia, Turkey, and the Philippines. Methodologically, the study is based on analysis of literature and a quantitative estimate of migrants in elderly care for the next 10 years. Furthermore, 30 interviews with Austrian experts in federal administration, care providers, professional networks, relevant NGOs, as well as academic experts were conducted. Finally, the study aimed to explore migrants’ perspectives through 8 focus groups with overall 74 participants organized in the cities of Linz and Vienna.

Biografie autora

Bernhard Perchinig

is a Senior Research Officer at the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) Vienna and Faculty Member at the Department of Commercial Law and European Studies and the Department for Health Promotion and Social Work at the Danube University Krems. He holds a PhD in Political Sciences from the University of Vienna. Prior to joining the ICMPD, he was a Research Fellow for Migration Studies at the Research Platform for Human Rights at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and Head of Research at the Funds for Integration of the City of Vienna. Further to his research and teaching activities he has consulted several international organizations, national and state governments and companies. i.a. the Council of Europe, the Austrian Federal Chancellery, the City of Vienna, and the State Government of Vorarlberg. His main research interests are comparative migration-, minority- and integration policies, European migration policies, and urban migration policies. He has published widely on migration- and integration issues.

Katharina Schaur

is Junior Research Officer at ICMPD’s Research Unit. She holds an MA in Cultural and Social Anthropology from the University of Vienna, which included half a year of study abroad at the University of Chicago. For her master thesis, she conducted research on health care provision for patients without health insurance in Vienna, which provided her with experience to contribute to the BEMIG research project at ICMPD. She is currently involved in the Thailand case study of the Migrants in Countries in Crisis research project, which aims to investigate the situation of migrants during the heavy flooding in Thailand in 2011. Aside from BEMIG, Katharina has also conducted research for the ICMPD project ITHACA (transnational engagement and integration).

Stahování

Publikováno

2016-07-01

Jak citovat

Perchinig, B., & Schaur, K. (2016). Care Needs of Elderly Migrants in Austria. Lidé města, 18(2), 253-284. https://doi.org/10.14712/12128112.3359

Číslo

Sekce

Research Report