Working With and Against the Status Quo: Politicization of Family Care Work by Canadian Punjabi Family Carers

BACKGROUND: This study engages with the experiences and challenges reported by Punjabi family carers of older adults from one census metropolitan city in Canada. OBJECTIVE: Our focus was on understanding carers' interpretations of family and public responsibilities for supporting older adults. METHODS: We interviewed eight Punjabi carers in one Canadian city who provide any form of unpaid help to an older adult living at home, about their experiences and ideas for advocacy. The interviews were analyzed through abductive thematic analysis, using politicization as a sensitizing concept. FINDINGS: While participants identified ideas for changes in public policy, their underlying mistrust of formal care systems often seemed to reinforce familial responsibility for care and restrict advocacy efforts to local family systems. DISCUSSION: These truncated networks of support contributed to alienating conditions for carers and limited opportunities for inclusive collective action to improve the current social organization of care for older people at home in Canada.