Tiltai

Trends in population ageing, the growing demand for public resources to care for older adults, and social policies aimed at formalising informal care, all underscore the need to develop a unified and efficient care system in modern welfare states. However, the prevailing discourse that pits formal care against informal care, along with deep-rooted traditions of family caregiving, expectations of receiving family care in old age, and mistrust in the quality of formal care, create significant barriers to integrated care provision. Integrated care for older adults seeks to bridge these two systems: one perceived in the public discourse as altruistic, loving care, and the other as a rational choice motivated by compensation. A critical question for their integration is whether there are common points of connection that can reconcile such differently defined systems of care. This paper aims to identify the preconditions for integrating formal and informal care for older adults by exploring the concept of care work. Through a secondary analysis of research findings, the study compares the perspectives of formal caregivers (individual care workers) and informal caregivers (family members) on caregiving. The results indicate that, when examined through the lens of the ‘work’ concept, formal and informal caregiving have many similarities. These two forms of care not only complement but, in some cases, substitute one another. The study’s findings convey a positive message to society and care recipients, showing that formal care, as a fulfilling work choice for caregivers, shares more commonalities with informal caregiving than differences.