Social science magazine

Care services for elderly and disabled persons: different conditions, different trends? Care services for disabled and elderly persons are essential parts of the Nordic welfare states. While these services are often not separated in statistics and research, a comparison of the two services reveals substantial differences in the case of Sweden. This article focuses the recent developments of Swedish elder care and disability care; the changing roles of the state, the family and the market; and the consequences of the changes for all parties concerned: the elderly and disabled persons, their next of kin and the care staff. The analysis shows that the financial resources for elder care have declined in relation to the increasing number of old people, while the resources for disability care have increased substantially. The coverage of services has decreased among elderly people and increased among the younger. The care workers in elder care and disability care report very different working conditions regarding their workload and the possibility to meet the needs of the care recipients. Private providers (mainly for-profit companies) of publicly financed care services have enlarged their share in both services, but are far more common in disability care than in elder care. The boundary line between formal and informal care has changed in both groups, but partly in opposite directions. There is a trend of informalisation among elderly people with larger as well as smaller care needs, especially among elderly with lower education. Among less disabled younger persons there is a similar trend of informalisation, while there is an opposite trend towards more formal care services among disabled persons with large needs of assistance and support. In relation to the Nordic welfare state model, care services for elderly and for disabled people in Sweden seem to be moving in different directions. An increasing number of disabled people with extensive care needs can lead their lives with greater autonomy and less family dependency than previously. Among frail elderly people, decreasing public support and increasing, often coerced, family dependency, might instead be a sign of a departure from the Nordic model.