Shaping home care in community: Social networking between migrant live-in careworkers and family caregivers. A case study in Austria

In home-care for older adults, several vulnerable groups come together: the older adult with care needs, family relatives who look after the older adults and, increasingly, migrant live-in careworkers who live with the older adult. Community engagement is recommended in order to reach and protect people in vulnerable situations, especially for crisis preparedness and prevention activities. This article aims at showing how a participatory approach and community involvement can lead to defining challenges and finding solutions for improving home-care for older adults in Austria. A network meeting was organized that brought family caregivers as well as live-in carers and Community Nurses together. The network meeting showed that it was possible to bring almost all affected and vulnerable groups in home-care together. The presence of Community Nurses and researchers also made it clear to the affected groups that their matters were of wider public importance.