{"id":30701,"date":"2022-05-10T10:00:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T02:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/?p=30701"},"modified":"2022-06-29T13:30:12","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T05:30:12","slug":"tuning-care-relations-between-migrant-caregivers-and-the-elderly-in-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/2022\/05\/10\/tuning-care-relations-between-migrant-caregivers-and-the-elderly-in-singapore\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuning care relations between migrant caregivers and the elderly in Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo: \u2018Old Lady on wheelchair\u2019 by Kelman Chiang from SRN\u2019s SG Photobank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the face of rapidly ageing population, Singapore has become highly dependent on foreign domestic workers to provide home-based care for the elderly. Popular perception of the relationship between migrant caregivers and elderly care recipients is polarised. While some media reports have highlighted acts of abuse and even murder of the elderly by migrant caregivers, non-governmental organisations have emphasised the precarity and exploitation of foreign domestic workers by their employers.<\/p>\n

In \u2018Tuning care relations between migrant caregivers and the elderly in Singapore\u2019(Asia Pacific Viewpoint<\/em>, 2020), Research Associate Jian An Liew (NUS Asia Research Institute), Professor Brenda S.A. Yeoh (NUS Department of Geography and Asia Research Institute), Associate Professor Shirlena Huang (NUS Department of Geography), and Associate Professor Elaine Lynne-Ee Ho (NUS Department of Geography) sought to develop a more nuanced understanding of the interactions between migrant caregivers and elderly care recipients beyond sensational, victim-driven portrayals of care relations. They assert that a more accurate depiction is that the caregiver and recipient are in a mutual and reciprocal process undergoing constant \u2018tuning\u2019 on an everyday basis, where parties are \u2018mutually tuned in\u2019 when they have cultivated reciprocally meaningful relationships.<\/p>\n

The authors conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 69 Singaporean seniors and 35 migrant caregivers employed for eldercare in Singapore, analysing the results under Alfred Sch\u00fctz\u2019s intersubjective \u2018tuning\u2019 framework. Three components of the \u2018tuning\u2019 framework were employed in the study. First, people inhabit both \u2018objective time\u2019 (quantified by objective measurement) and \u2018subjective time\u2019 (time consciously experienced). Second, \u2018true face-to-face\u2019 interactions are important to build social relations. Third, there is a distinction between \u2018in-order-to motives\u2019 (the expected goals of planned actions) and \u2018because motives\u2019 (cause(s) of action attributed retrospectively).<\/p>\n

The authors then zoomed in on three dyads of elderly-caregiver as case studies, showing that although care dyads co-exist at the same time and space, their relationship oscillates between \u2018tuning out\u2019 and \u2018tuning in\u2019 in their daily activities. Attunement can be initiated by either the caregiver or the recipient. Spatial and temporal proximity between the two enables either party to anticipate the counterparty\u2019s needs and fulfil them more efficiently (\u2018tuned in\u2019). However, proximity can also heighten the elderly\u2019s certain expectations of the caregiver. Additionally, the synchronicity of care dyads depends heavily on the compatibility between the pair\u2019s \u2018in-order-to motives\u2019 and \u2018because motives\u2019 in relation to intended actions. The elderly-caregiver relationship is not pre-defined or dictated by either party. Rather, it requires constant fine-tuning for (re)calibration in daily interactions.<\/p>\n

Practically, a harmonious elderly-caregiver relationship (a \u2018genuine mutual tuning-in relationship\u2019) requires both parties to be willing to extend care and show empathetic attitudes towards each other and to adopt certain \u2018good practices\u2019, e.g., sharing meals and avoiding heavy-handed control. Greater attention should also be paid to elderly care recipients as compared to that given to caregivers.<\/p>\n

Read the article here: https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/apv.12259<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the face of rapidly ageing population, Singapore has become highly dependent on foreign domestic workers to provide home-based care for the elderly. Popular perception of the relationship between migrant caregivers and elderly care recipients is polarised. While some media reports have highlighted acts of abuse and even murder of the elderly by migrant caregivers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":30702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4529,4606,4604],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-research","category-visible"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30703,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30701\/revisions\/30703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}