The not-so-golden years : caregiving, the frail elderly, and the long-term care establishment /

This book presents a powerful, thought-provoking critique of long-term care in the US. Defining elder care as a woman's issue influenced by interlocking systems of gender, racial, and social class inequality, Olson (political science, Lehigh Univ.) exposes the inadequacies of long-term care policies and programs. Each of the nine chapters addresses different aspects of long-term care (policies and programs, family caregivers, paid caregivers, frail elders, and nursing homes) and challenges conventional thinking to consider how powerful institutions benefit from the current system. Several chapters are particularly effective. Chapter 2 provides an excellent overview of the evolution of long-term care policies and programs, factors influencing care, and the consequences of the current political climate for change. Chapter 4, which explores the elder care workplace, provides an excellent analysis of the social pressures, economic disadvantages, and workplace constraints confronting frontline workers. The conclusion presents a series of broad-ranging recommendations for redressing the current problems relating to long-term care. Olson's analysis of the political, economic, ideological, structural, and sociocultural processes that influence formal and informal long-term care is a must read for policy makers in this time of fiscal budget cuts. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. N. W. Sheehan University of Connecticut