The role of immigrants in providing elderly care services for an ageing Polish population: complementary or substitutionary

Abstract

The paper features a discussion on selected results of research conducted among 42 migrants working as elderly caregivers. The purpose of the research was to obtain information about the scope of provided care, among others: running the home, medical help, accompanying an elderly person. The studies were of exploratory nature, based on individual in-depth interviews (IDI). The sampling of respondents was done using the snowball method and Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS). The data was analysed using the MAXQDA program. The research problem in the article was to determine the role of immigrants in elderly care. Whether they are complementary or substitutionary to the family. Based on the conducted research, it was established that the duties of elderly caregivers mostly included preparation of meals, cleaning, making laundry and shopping. Foreign workers were responsible for their hygiene, medical care, e.g. giving injections, rehabilitation.