Experience of family caregivers of hospitalized older people in Kolkata, India.

In India, family caregivers (FCs) play a major role in providing care to their older kin during hospitalization. This article explores the challenges encountered by them while providing care in a public hospital. It draws upon empirical insights obtained through interviews with 54 FCs and field observations. The findings show that the hospital was not congenial for FCs and exposes the factors impeding their caregiving role. FC experience was found to be highly complex and fraught with multiple practical challenges during admission, in-hospital treatment, and at discharge. All these had repercussions on various aspects of their own life and well-being like poor health outcomes, financial stress, and social isolation. The article concludes that the needs, preferences, and challenges of the FCs need to be considered to make hospitals conducive for FCs of older people.

Exploring self-care abilities among women in prisons of West Bengal, India.

PURPOSE: Self-care is defined as the ability to take care of one's body and health with or without the help of healthcare personnel. The purpose of this paper is to explore the opportunities for self-care among imprisoned women within the constraints of a confined life, which, in turn, affect their health. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Primary data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with 90 women in three prisons in the Indian state of West Bengal. FINDINGS: Findings reveal that a majority of the women cited the inability to self-care was due to factors such as constricted architecture, specific penal policies that thwarted relational contexts in prisons and also the loss of control over their consumptive choices. However, it was found that coping mechanisms also existed among some women who actively constituted penal spaces for self-care. Many long-term imprisoned women tried to actively engage themselves in daily activities such as the "labour" allotted to them. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The paper concludes that abilities to self-care have a deep impact on the health of women, which if not facilitated will lead to a health depleting experience. At a time when Indian prisons are focussing on rehabilitation, the recommendations for providing opportunities for self-care in prisons can minimize the "pains" of imprisonment and pave the way for rehabilitation. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The research is based on data collected during original fieldwork conducted in three prisons in West Bengal, India. It provides valuable insights on how penal environments affect self-care opportunities of imprisoned women.

Assessment of Private Homes as Spaces for the Dying Elderly.

AIM: This study makes an assessment of end-of-life care of the elderly in private homes in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Primary data were collected from private homes which supported elder care through observation and semi-structured interviews with primary family caregivers of the elderly. RESULTS: The study finds that the major factors preventing private homes from providing adequate care to the elderly were architecturally inadequate housing conditions, paucity of financial support, and scarcity of skilled caregivers. Besides, considerable neglect and domestic abuse of the elderly was also found in some private homes. In addition, the peripheral location of private homes within public health framework and inadequate state palliative policy, including stringent narcotic regulations, accentuated the problems of home care. CONCLUSION: The study concludes by questioning the rhetoric of private homes as spaces for the dying elderly in Kolkata and suggests remedial measures to improve their capacity to deliver care.