Experiences of family carers of older people in marginalised communities in Namibia

Abstract

Namibia’s lengthy colonial history and current high levels of inequality foreshadow care in the context of poverty and marginalisation, and within families that are diverse and whose care capacities are poorly understood. Focus group interviews with family carers of older people in two marginalised communities provide insights into their experiences of care. We highlight three findings: first, contexts of care perpetuate and entrench marginalisation; second, care is not widely shared within families, raising questions of what it means to ‘do family’; and, third, care has negative consequences for carers and their families, foreshadowing generational replication of carer exclusion.

Editorial

“…Freeman draws on qualitative data from men and women needing and providing care in rural southern Malawi to challenge the implied universalism of some of the key terms of reference in the (glocalised) African long-term care discourse. The sixth article, by Ananias and Keating (2023), aims to enhance understanding of experiences of family care, its contexts and its consequences among carers in marginalised communities in Namibia. The article reveals that care is not always shared within families and can have dire consequences for carers and their families, foreshadowing the generational replication of carer exclusion.…”

“…In the case of South Africa, Moore highlights how employed co-residential caregivers manage this responsibility, while Freeman, in the context of Malawi, outlines how having to attend to 'care work', as it is often understood, takes people away from the subsistence work that is also essential for caring. In Namibia, Ananias and Keating (2023) describe the constrained circumstances for those who care for older people that set up a tricky bind between navigating multiple forms of work and responsibility, all of which are essential to sustaining livelihoods.…”

Conceptualisations of “good care” within informal caregiving networks for older people in rural South Africa

“…Relational approaches premise the need to value caregivers’ intimate practical knowledge of how best to give care to particular people in particular contexts. They highlight the value of caregiving research on those involved in caregiving relationships, so as to “interrogate existing ideals” ( Kelly & Sebego, 2023 , 16) and determine what constitutes “good” care in specific contexts ( Kabelenga, 2023 ). Enhanced understandings of informal care provision for older people in diverse settings, where populations are rapidly ageing, has profound implications for familial care organisation, ( African Union, 2016 ; Coe, 2021 ; Freeman, 2023 ; Kelly & Sebego, 2023 ; Lupton & Lewis, 2022 ).…”