Unpaid (or informal) caregivers provide the vast majority of care and support received by older adults around the world, and the demand for unpaid caregiving will only increase in the coming years. The predominant narrative around unpaid caregiving in research and policy focuses on the burden that stems from providing this support. While we cannot escape the reality that unpaid caregiving is linked to adverse outcomes, there is a need to understand when it goes well and how the experience can be transformed into a more positive one. Such insights could contribute to new public perspectives, proactive research strategies, and policy recommendations that promote the wellbeing and flourishing of unpaid caregivers into the 21st century. This Research Topic extends from an initiative by the International Longevity Centre (ILC) Global Alliance, which brought together experts from around the world to transform how we approach unpaid caregiving for older adults across a range of contexts.
The goal of this Research Topic is to stimulate research and policy analysis to look at positive experiences and trajectories in the context of unpaid caregiving. The goal is not to ignore that unpaid caregiving has been linked to negative outcomes but to push the research agenda to the next level – to build the evidence base around what makes unpaid caregiving go well when it does. By strengthening our knowledge about the positive aspects, we can inform future strategies and policies that take a proactive approach to improve the wellbeing of unpaid caregivers, reduce the negative impact on them, and facilitate fuller economic and social engagement of them throughout their lives.
To address this goal, initial work has highlighted the broad constellation of policies designed to support unpaid caregivers that exist around the world, noting the sometimes fragmented approach these take. Moreover, current approaches tend to focus on the caregiving aspect in isolation rather than a more holistic view of caregivers as individuals. The shift away from a burden focus should consider different ways to better consider wellbeing among unpaid caregivers, drawing on perspectives such as flourishing and positive psychology.
The scope of this Research Topic remains open to any work related to unpaid caregiving that highlights or emphasises positive experiences or outcomes. The topic has a particular interest in generating links between unpaid caregiving and flourishing, a psychological theory of wellbeing that includes positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and accomplishment, but it also welcomes other conceptualisations of positive wellbeing and other outcomes. Research can include quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods empirical approaches, as well as policy analysis, theory or methodology papers, reviews, or case studies. We strongly encourage comparative perspectives and contributions that address diverse contexts in which unpaid caregiving takes place, including those related to the links between caregiver and care recipient, the socioeconomic environment, geography, and/or cultural factors.
We acknowledge the funding of the manuscripts published in this Research Topic by the University of Ottawa LIFE Research Institute and the NAWA Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange. We hereby state publically that the sponsor has had no editorial input in articles included in this Research Topic, thus ensuring that all aspects of this Research Topic are evaluated objectively, unbiased by any specific policy or opinion of the University of Ottawa LIFE Research Institute or the NAWA Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange.
Unpaid (or informal) caregivers provide the vast majority of care and support received by older adults around the world, and the demand for unpaid caregiving will only increase in the coming years. The predominant narrative around unpaid caregiving in research and policy focuses on the burden that stems from providing this support. While we cannot escape the reality that unpaid caregiving is linked to adverse outcomes, there is a need to understand when it goes well and how the experience can be transformed into a more positive one. Such insights could contribute to new public perspectives, proactive research strategies, and policy recommendations that promote the wellbeing and flourishing of unpaid caregivers into the 21st century. This Research Topic extends from an initiative by the International Longevity Centre (ILC) Global Alliance, which brought together experts from around the world to transform how we approach unpaid caregiving for older adults across a range of contexts.
The goal of this Research Topic is to stimulate research and policy analysis to look at positive experiences and trajectories in the context of unpaid caregiving. The goal is not to ignore that unpaid caregiving has been linked to negative outcomes but to push the research agenda to the next level – to build the evidence base around what makes unpaid caregiving go well when it does. By strengthening our knowledge about the positive aspects, we can inform future strategies and policies that take a proactive approach to improve the wellbeing of unpaid caregivers, reduce the negative impact on them, and facilitate fuller economic and social engagement of them throughout their lives.
To address this goal, initial work has highlighted the broad constellation of policies designed to support unpaid caregivers that exist around the world, noting the sometimes fragmented approach these take. Moreover, current approaches tend to focus on the caregiving aspect in isolation rather than a more holistic view of caregivers as individuals. The shift away from a burden focus should consider different ways to better consider wellbeing among unpaid caregivers, drawing on perspectives such as flourishing and positive psychology.
The scope of this Research Topic remains open to any work related to unpaid caregiving that highlights or emphasises positive experiences or outcomes. The topic has a particular interest in generating links between unpaid caregiving and flourishing, a psychological theory of wellbeing that includes positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and accomplishment, but it also welcomes other conceptualisations of positive wellbeing and other outcomes. Research can include quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods empirical approaches, as well as policy analysis, theory or methodology papers, reviews, or case studies. We strongly encourage comparative perspectives and contributions that address diverse contexts in which unpaid caregiving takes place, including those related to the links between caregiver and care recipient, the socioeconomic environment, geography, and/or cultural factors.
We acknowledge the funding of the manuscripts published in this Research Topic by the University of Ottawa LIFE Research Institute and the NAWA Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange. We hereby state publically that the sponsor has had no editorial input in articles included in this Research Topic, thus ensuring that all aspects of this Research Topic are evaluated objectively, unbiased by any specific policy or opinion of the University of Ottawa LIFE Research Institute or the NAWA Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange.
