Caregiver's Strategies of Maintaining Quality of Life under the Condition of "Dense" Homecare for the Elderly Relative (the Case of Moscow)

The research work is focused on the problem of maintaining the quality of life of caregivers involved in “dense” (intensive, long-term, home-based) care [Zdravomyslova and Savchenko, 2020] for an elderly relative. Caregivers’ strategies of maintaining their subjective well-being [Diener and Suh, 1997; Land, 1996] are analysed on the basis of 15 semi-structured interviews. Contrary to our assumptions, managing the “time budgets” (allocating and utilizing free time for recreational purposes) is found to be ща secondary importance to caregivers. Due to the fact that within the caregiver's moral career [Goffman, 1961] this identity takes a paramount position, managing the care process itself is discovered to play a primary role in maintaining the quality of life. The ability to match the care process to the needs of the relative, as well as to simplify it, to make the procedures more comfortable and efficient — all of it provides satisfaction and confidence in fulfilling the caregiver’s role as well as improving perceptions and interpretations of the process (caring instead of dealing with a burden).