Il caregiver come cure-giver: nuove soggettività di cura nella cronicità delle demenze

Titolo Rivista SALUTE E SOCIETÀ
Autori/Curatori Elisa Castellaccio
Anno di pubblicazione 2025 Fascicolo 2025/3
Lingua Italiano Numero pagine 14 P. 146-159 Dimensione file 318 KB
DOI 10.3280/SES2025-003010
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Population ageing and the rise of dementia are shifting Italy’s long-term-care landscape from acute medicine to continuous assistance. Through 34 in-depth interviews (21 family caregivers, 13 health-care professionals) conducted in Bologna, this qualitative study examines how relatives negotiate care pathways for persons with Alzheimer’s disease. Content analysis shows that caregivers perform body work, emotional labour, bureaucratic articulation and medication management, integrating domestic life with clinical requirements. These hybrid practices blur the canonical care/cure divide and generate a new subjectivity – the “cure-giver” – whose lay expertise enables continuity of treatment yet remains socially invisible and gendered. The article argues that acknowledging cure-givers as co-producers of health care is vital for equitable, integrated long-term-care policies and for reducing the hidden burdens currently shouldered by families.

Parole chiave:demenza; caregiver familiare; long term care; sociologia della salute; cura informale; cure-giver.

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Elisa Castellaccio, Il caregiver come cure-giver: nuove soggettività di cura nella cronicità delle demenze in "SALUTE E SOCIETÀ" 3/2025, pp 146-159, DOI: 10.3280/SES2025-003010