Older Carers: Bonding, bridging

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Older Carers Bonding, bridging linkingwith
social capital

• Wendy Stone
• Presentation to
• Older Carers Forum 5 August 2003, Melbourne

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Demographic, social policy context

• Demographic change
• Ageing of the Australian population
• Increasing diversity of older population
• Smaller family units
• Societal and community change
• Move towards greater home-based care
• Community self-provisioning and self-reliance
• Policy and practice context
• Towards greater recognition of needs of older
  carers
• Social capital as part of support framework

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Todays talk

• 1. About social capital
• What is meant by social capital?
• Bonding, bridging and linking relationships
• Who has social capital?
• 2. Social capital in supporting older carers
• Key issues for older carers
• 3. Making social capital happen
• How we act matters
• Building social capital into what we do future
  directions

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About social capital

• Social capital can be understood as networks of
  trust and reciprocity that can lead to outcomes
  of mutual benefit.
• Social capital is a term that describes good
  quality social relationships.
• Social capital can exist within and between
  families, friends, neighbours, communities,
  services and other organisations.
• Social capital can link individuals, families and
  communities.
• Social capital can lead to a range of positive
  outcomes.

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A social capital framework

• Bonding social capital (the informal
  realm)Close ties that help people to get by.
  These are usually with family, friends and
  neighbours.
• Bridging social capital (the civic
  realm)Weaker ties that can help people get
  ahead and gain opportunities. Usually with
  people who are different from themselves, who
  have different types of networks.
• Linking social capital (the institutional
  realm)Links to organisations and systems that
  can help people gain resources and bring about
  broader change.

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Access to social capital

• Individuals, families and communities can have a
  different mix of bonding, bridging and linking
  social capital
• The distribution of social capital within a
  community can be uneven
• Different mixes of social capital can lead to
  different types of outcomes
• ? Having the right mix of social capital can
  lead to empowerment, can help people to manage
  their lives, achieve change, and can lead to
  community cohesion.
• ? Having low levels of social capital can result
  in low cooperation, obstacles to change, and
  social isolation.

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Who has social capital?

• We talked with around 1,500 Australians about
  their lives, relationships and communities
• We found people have very different mixes of
  social capital - social capital types
• Having different mixes of social capital is
  related to other factors such as family life,
  education, ethnicity, health, financial
  wellbeing, types of neighbourhoods and local
  areas
• ? Social capital can relate to existing
  inequalities
• ? Social capital varies across the life course

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Late in the life course, this means
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For older carers

• Social capital is a resource
• Links with family, friends neighbours, civic
  groups and institutions (including services) are
  each important for managing day to day caring
• Social capital can assist wellbeing
• Risks of social isolation may be increased among
  the older carer population, and be associated
  with deterioration in mental health, physical
  health and general wellbeing
• Services a conduit to social capital
• Through service contact, other bonds can be
  facilitated services become a critical point
  for connection

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Making social capital happen how we act matters

• Social capital is facilitated by
• Time and resources
• Commitment
• Being inclusive
• Sharing power and responsibility
• Being local
• Having respect
• Being trustworthy
• ? Having a social capital rich service network

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An illustration social capital in practice

• Bonding, bridging and linking provide us with a
  framework for assessing our current work and
  where we might change our approach in order to
  meet our objective of building social capital.
  Historically, weve been reasonably good in the
  area of bonding - about strengthening the bonds
  with families and a close network through our
  services. Now were increasingly looking to see
  how we can create more bridges and links for
  individuals, families and communities...

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Social capital in practice

• Within this social capital and community
  engagement framework we can begin to ask whether
  our work is
• Creating trust?
• Increasing the networks enjoyed by individuals
  and families?
• Building opportunities for civic participation?
• Facilitating cross-institutional co-operation?
• (Hampshire and Smeaton 2001 - The Benevolent
  Society)