Who is going to take care of them?

Abstract

The focus of this study is on analyzing the motivations of migrant care workers to get involved in the formal elderly care work within nursing-homes in the Netherlands. Due to the demographic aging of developed countries, the demand for extra people who can provide long-term care services for the elderly population is increasing. Therefore, the growing demand for care workers compelled many developed countries to eliminate the care worker shortages, by finding new labour forces, such as “Migrant Care Workers” (Anderson, 2001; Spencer et al, 2010; Warburton et al, 2009; Cangiano et al, 2009). Since the main motivations of the MCWs got involved in the care sector, in the Netherlands are not very visible or have received less attention, this research might help to gain insights into the personal motivations of migrant care workers: “why and how” they have decided to involve themselves in elderly care work in the Netherlands rather than just the barriers that prevent them to do so. In response to the research questions, the findings of this study show that there were four main drivers which played a decisive role in determining the motivations to get involved in FECW (formal elderly care work): Cultural Aspects, Empathy-Altruism, Material Values, and Self-Esteem. All respondents’ answers were quite similar as to the reasons why and how they have decided to get involved in FECW.