| Popis: |
An important milestone in social care and social policy since the late 1990s is the continued opportunity for persons with disability and their parents and/or family caregivers to have longer, enjoyable quality of life. However, as family carers, informal supporters and persons with disabilities age, their needs and expectations also change. Ageing family carers, usually parents, increasingly can no longer provide the quality and intensity of support and care required for their family members with disabilities. This puts additional pressure on informal long-term care and support relationships. It also threatens the future of care, especially for ageing carers from multicultural communities –who historically and continually find access to disability and other support services challenging in Australia. The intersection of migration and ageing in Australia presents a multifaceted challenge. The phenomenon of migration has led to a growing number of older Australians from multicultural backgrounds. The combination of the demographic shift, the trend of people living longer, as well as the evolving dynamics of informal caregiving for people with disabilities resulting from the ageing process means it is now imperative to gain insights into the experiences of ageing informal disability carers (hereinafter referred to as ‘AIDC’) from multicultural backgrounds, and their family member with disabilities. Understanding their perspectives on and preparations for this significant transition into the latter years of life is of the utmost importance. This project, therefore, aimed to work with multicultural communities in collaboration with the New South Wales (NSW) peak multicultural disabled people’s organisation, the Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association (MDAA), which advocates for people with disability, their families and carers in order to understand the care transition planning experiences of AIDC and their adult family members with disability. The overall goal is to use the findings of this pilot study to inform the design of an innovative multicultural care transition toolkit to support the care transition planning processes of multicultural families who provide informal disability care. There are profound uncertainties for the future of care and support for ageing carers and their adult children with disabilities in multicultural communities. The long-held assumption that these communities rely on an informal family support system is no longer tenable in the face of weakening intergenerational solidarity and the effect of acculturation into the Australian way of life of second and third-generation migrants. It is, therefore, imperative that stakeholders in multicultural disability support and care and aged care acknowledge the role of AIDC and the evolving context in which they provide care by designing tailored household interventions that support the care transition planning process for all concerned – the care and support providers within the family, and the person with disabilities who relies upon them. More importantly, there is the need for a deliberate multicultural policy response that recognises the voices, concerns, aspirations, and expectations of disability and aged caregiving in multicultural communities when designing tailored care transition services. The research recommends that disability advocacy and carer support organisations work towards strengthening and empowering ADIC and persons with disabilities to negotiate the care transition process, considering their personal cultural values, beliefs, gender, ethnoreligious, and family norms. |
