Gamla och nya frivillighetsformer Äldreomsorgshybrider växer fram

Sammanfattning: The interest for voluntary services in elderly care has increased inrecent years and some have claimed that new types have emergedwithin the field. What’s new with these types of services? Thislicentiate dissertation focuses on the relationship between voluntaryservices and local authority elderly care in Sweden. In order tounderstand the transition from the old to the new types of voluntaryservices the use of an historic perspective is essential. An analysis of this relationship and the characteristics of those newer types of voluntary services that have emerged were carried out utilizing text analyses of official government reports. The study also focuses on the role of the government, how the dividing line between voluntary organizations and local authority elderly care has been negotiated and thus moved over time.The results show that services such as social support to the elderlyare in the process of being transferred from some of the localauthority organizations to special elderly care hybrid organizations.These are run by local authority employees whose assignment is toorganize and recruit members from both voluntary organizations inthe social field and from volunteers who do not belong to thesevoluntary organizations. Social support services to the elderly thustend to develop their own organizational frameworks. Furthermorethe results show that the government has great expectations for thehealthy elderly to contribute to the care of their peers in need ofsupport. These expectations are based on a perception that thehealthy elderly should take responsibility for their ageing and aconception about them risking becoming lonely and ill if they do notcontribute by helping other elderly persons.