Transnational care to people living with dementia is associated with many challenges.
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Existing care regimes can hinder or facilitate informal care across the borders.
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Women having caring responsibilities in two countries experience additional challenges.
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There is a need for policies that would facilitate transnational caring.
Abstract
Migration requires people to re-define their caring roles, develop new caring strategies and negotiate the scope of care with the family in the country of origin. The main aim of this paper is to identify and describe challenges related to transnational care provided for people with dementia. Transnational caring itself poses many challenges for families but caring for a person living with dementia can be especially difficult.
The qualitative data presented in this article was collected in 2018 as part of a larger study focusing on understandings, experiences and responses to age-related cognitive impairment among families with minority ethnic backgrounds. The data includes seven semi-structured in-depth interviews with migrants in Oslo who were engaged in transnational caring activities for their parents living with dementia.
The participants in our study experienced numerous challenges related to providing care across borders to their parents. Some of the challenges were typical for transnational caring and were associated with care regimes in the countries of parents' and participants' residence, motives for providing care, participants' socio-economic situation and family relations. The other challenges were due to specific care needs of people living with dementia.
