Doctoral Dissertation Research: International Labor Migration and Health Care Disparities: Eldercare in Genoa, Italy

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University of Kentucky doctoral student Patti Meyer, supervised by Dr. Mary K. Anglin, will investigate the healthcare strategies of South American female migrant careworkers laboring in the homes of elderly clients in Genoa, Italy. Elder care is an acute concern in many cities across the Global North, where the population is aging while family size is decreasing and women, who are the traditional caregivers, pursue work outside the household. Carework of elders in their homes by migrant workers is but one example of contemporary transnational migration and its linkages with the growth of health and family care as marketable commodities. The researcher has chosen Genoa as an appropriate site to investigate this phenomenon because Genoa has the largest percentage of adults over 80 in Europe.Previous research has focused on the effects of migrant labor on the economies of the countries from which they come and to which they go. This project is looking at the effects on the careworkers themselves. In particular, the research will address the consequences of carework on the careworkers' own mental and physical health. This researcher will use data from semi-structured interviews with careworkers, semi-structured interviews with professionals who provide services to the careworkers, long-term participant observation, and archival data on migrants and labor markets in Italy to: 1) produce empirical data on health concerns of and healthcare resource use by migrant careworkers; and 2) investigate the relationships between health concerns, living/working conditions, and healthcare resource use of transnational migrants in informal work settings.This research is important because it will bring together medical anthropology and labor theory in a new way, which will increase theoretical understanding of the individual-level consequences of migration and globalization. The research also will inform policy regarding the care of elders and those who care for them. Funding this project supports the education of a social scientist.