Governing Home Care: A Cross-National Comparison (Globalization and Welfare series) - Hardcover

`This is an exhaustive text, soundly rooted in "social policy", which contains a wealth of detailed information on home care: a topic of welfare policy that is little studied. . . it provides an extremely useful initial analysis of home care governance in the nine countries studied and is a useful basis for further research in this area. It will be of interest to researchers and students of social policy, particularly those who are interested in undertaking comparative studies, as well as to senior managers in health and social services (national and local levels), who plan to develop and commission home care services for older people.' -- Pat Chambers, International Journal of Health Planning and Management `Governing Home Care closes several important gaps in the literature. The authors provide both a rich source of empirical data on home care in different countries and new theoretical approaches on the governance of public sector services and comparative welfare research. As such, this book stretches far beyond the field of care for the elderly in their homes. . . This book is an invaluable source for students and researchers of health and social care, gender studies and comparative welfare state studies. It stimulates creative thinking and the search for new and more sustainable avenues in home care and comparative public policy alike.' -- Ellen Kuhlmann, Journal of European Social Policy

Care of the elderly in their own homes has increasingly come into the focus of contemporary welfare policies and raises important questions about the governance of welfare in general. By taking a comparative and thematic approach, this interesting and timely book offers a comprehensive analysis of the principal issues surrounding the governance of home care. The analysis presented systematically maps out governing arrangements in relation to formal and informal care services, informal care, care workers and users of care across nine countries. The authors explore the ways in which country specific contexts shape governing arrangements and bring together insights from social care and public policy literature, two different yet complementary theoretical perspectives. Combining social care and public policy, Governing Home Care will be of great interest to scholars and postgraduate students and researchers of comparative social and public policy, as well as gender studies with particular interest in health policy, welfare state policies, family studies, and the sociology of caring and ageing.