The greying population of modern society live in a deepening care-crisis as the primary care unit, the family, is passing through an existential crisis shaped by declining fertility, declining family size and growing dispersal of family members. For the elderly citizens suffering from degenerative ailments such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, who need round-the-clock care, the crisis is even deeper. Although ideally, dementia care demands a network of doctors, nurses, domestic aides, and relatives, the primary care responsibility lies with the family members, the spouses, in particular. Care arrangement and the quality of care vary depending on the age, physical agility, economic condition, the mental makeup, and the value-resolve of the spouses. This paper examines how dementia caregiving reshapes the everyday lives, emotional well-being, and social identities of elderly spouses who serve as primary caregivers. The paper, based on a study of 16 families with elderly citizens suffering from Alzheimer’s in Kolkata, highlights the psychological strain, erosion of personal autonomy and the sacrificial adjustments and compromises that the spouses make in their lives. The elderly spouses suffer in silence while reflecting on their memories of good old days. Conducted in collaboration with the Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI), Calcutta Chapter, the study adopts an ethnographic, descriptive phenomenological approach. Drawing from detailed case studies, the paper illuminates the lived experiences, endurance, and resilience of aged dementia caregivers in modern urban India.

Authors:
Sinjini Roy, Government General Degree College, India

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Sinjini Roy is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Government General Degree College, Chapra, West Bengal, India which is affiliated under Kalyani University, West Bengal, India.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Friday Schedule

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