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Published on: 25/06/2020Updated on: 25/06/2020
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many personal carers, though on the front line facing the disease, continued supporting the most vulnerable people at home while following protective measures. The health crisis highlighted these behind-the-scenes professionals to the public, but for how long? What makes them care actors, in the sense of "taking care," today? What role do they play in supporting advanced age and maintaining dependent elderly people at home?
An Occupation with a Strong Human Dimension
Personal carers support dependent people at home in daily activities and participate in the care chain around them. Beyond mastering technical skills, prevention, and safety, this occupation requires multiple qualities and behavioral skills (communication, adaptability, listening, organization...) that give it its depth and richness. Learn more about the occupationCaring, trust, and competence. These three words summarize the working relationship between individual employer and personal carer. A particularly special relationship, perfectly embodied by Georgette Chaverot, 87, and Valérie Charbonnièras, her personal carer: two testimonials to discover on video.
A Future-Oriented Occupation Offering Employment Prospects
Increasingly, elderly people choose home support, usually by conviction. Given demographic projections, 660,000 positions supporting advanced age will need filling in the next 10 years[1].Recognition and attractiveness of the personal carer occupation are central to the professional branch of domestic employees' commitment and IPERIA's 25-year work alongside it. Indeed, by enhancing skills attached to this "relationship occupation," this empathy profession, we'll change society's view of it (and our elderly simultaneously). Behind career prospects, ambitions are clear:
It's about collectively meeting the ongoing demographic transition challenge and enabling French people to choose to age at home, as over 83% express[2].- Generate vocation and attract young people to the sector
- Inspire career changes toward this profession
An Evolving Occupation Meeting Our Elderly's Needs
According to Baptiste Lenfant, IPERIA Managing Director, home personal carers are essential to home support "as actors of transmission, care coordination, and social connection." Through these three dimensions and related skills, we measure personal carers' key role with our elderly:- Personal carers are change support drivers through their transmission role. This includes digital transition and environmental challenges, where trust relationships can lead to a better understanding of new practices and evolving behaviors. According to a recent IPERIA study, 59% of personal carers believe strengthening digital skills is necessary for their occupation. 70% want to support their employers better in using digital technology. View study results.
- Personal carers hold central positions coordinating care pathways between different actors and spaces. Working with family, healthcare staff, and individual employers, they capitalize on and centralize information to coordinate support for dependent persons' well-being. Their knowledge of the environment and regular contact with age-related illnesses enables them to be caring, competent guarantors of home support.
- Through their presence and broader intervention, personal carers create social connections for dependent persons: breaking isolation, maintaining autonomy through social/leisure activities, and supporting end of life.
Therefore, we must restore visibility to elderly people and their personal carers. In these troubled, uncertain times, previously undervalued "relationship occupations" return to prominence through their essential nature. The personal carer occupation embodies a primary societal need, whose changes require implementing accelerated training and support processes, already undertaken by IPERIA.
[1] IRCEM prospective service, 2016.
[2] FEPEM survey, SCA Home, a Citizen Issue? Conducted May 2016.
