[Review of the book Perspectives on care at home for older people, by C. Ceci, K. Bjornsdottir & M. E. Purkis]

Abstract

This edited volume constitutes an excellent addition to debates on domiciliary care for older persons. Recent decades have witnessed an unprecedented growth of frail older persons who require some level of personalised care, if they are not to enter long-term care. In this respect, a key challenge facing all social systems is to provide good quality of care that at the same time follows the values of sustainability and equity. Perspectives on Care at Home for Older People offers a critical analysis of how to best respond to the perceived challenges of home care for frail older adults, providing outstanding responses to two crucial questions: First, how do the actualities of people’s daily lives articulate with ideological, practical and programmatic discourses and material conditions? And second, what are the conditions of possibility for ‘‘care’’ where the frailties of older people matter? It answers such dilemmas by offering case studies (both policy- and practice-oriented empirical studies) from countries that share a basic orientation to social welfare, namely Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The chapters also set out a critical agenda for the development of equitable and sustainable practices in present times.