Abstract
This chapter discusses the work involved in providing long-term care to adults in France, an aspect of domestic and care work that is set to grow substantially over the next 30 years as the population ages. The decisions that individuals and families make about LTC are dependent on the policy context in which they live. Support for LTC varies widely between countries in terms of both levels of public spending and types of provisions. With above-average levels of spending as proportion of GDP in relation to other high-income countries, France has developed a mixed model for LTC, combining cash-for-care benefits to fund home-based careĀ on the one hand, and support for family care, including a legal obligation for adult children to care for their parents, and other ascendant relativesĀ on the other. The country occupies an intermediate and to some extent singular position between familialist and de-familialised regimes in terms of professional and family provision of LTC and the gendering of LTC work.
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Notes
- 1.
In France, the DREES applies three criteria to define an individual as dependent: they must find either one physical function impossible (e.g., walking), or experience limitations in a number of physical functions; they must find at least one everyday activity impossible (e.g., cooking) or experience restrictions in a range of everyday activities; and they must have experienced these issues for at least six months.
- 2.
The following activities were included in this category: assistance with washing, dressing, toileting, eating and drinking, food preparation, going to medical appointments, filling prescriptions, leaving the house, moving around the house, getting up from a chair or bed, managing household finances and administration, housework, washing up, laundry, shopping, DIY, and gardening, and monitoring during the day or overnight. Not included in this definition were moral support (emotional support and companionship) or financial support.
- 3.
The SHARE is a research infrastructure for studying the effects of health, social, economic, and environmental policies over the life-course of European citizens and beyond. http://www.share-project.org/home0.html
- 4.
The four existing risks are age, family, illness/pregnancy/invalidity/death, and workplace accidents/work-related illness.
- 5.
- 6.
In 2019, life expectancy for women in France was 85.6Ā years as opposed to 79.7Ā years for men (INSEE, 2020).
- 7.
CARE-MĆ©nages is a follow-up interview study carried out in 2015 with 15,000 over 60s living at home who declared 8000 informal carers, 6201 of whom were interviewed.
- 8.
These are aggregates of the population.
- 9.
The average age of unpaid helpers for the elderly in 2008 was 59 (Soullier, 2012)
- 10.
There is no breakdown of these figures between childcare and LTC.
- 11.
The ACPT is being phased out but is still drawn by some.
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Windebank, J. (2023). Long-Term Care for Adults in Contemporary France. In: Domestic and Care Work in Modern France. French Politics, Society and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33564-8_4
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