Caregiving students: a systematic literature review of an under-researched group

ABSTRACT

Against the backdrop of demographic ageing, university students increasingly face the need to reconcile studying and caring for an older person. Surprisingly little is known about the lives of caregiving students or the ways institutions of higher education can (or do) support them, however. Knowing more about this group is of importance from an academic and practical perspective. This study provides the first systematic literature review on caregiving students. It aims to i) systematise the knowledge on caregiving students, and ii) identify research gaps in the literature and formulate fields of future inquiry. The primary literature search resulted in 2,205 hits, of which only six publications met the inclusion criteria. These were coded and analysed according to the standards of inductive content analysis. Four core themes were identified: (1) determinants of being/becoming a caregiving student, (2) challenges in reconciling caregiving and studying, (3) positive and negative consequences of being a caregiving student, (4) potential support structures for caregiving students. Each of these themes also discusses issues regarding four spheres: (a) the personal sphere, (b) the sphere of the caregiving relationship, (c) the social sphere, and (d) the institutional or higher education sphere. Based on the results, we identify three blind spots of current research for future inquiry: (i) the particular challenges faced by students that care for an older person compared to students involved in childcare, (ii) a bias towards ‘methodological institutionalism’, and, as a consequence, (iii) a negligence of the care relationship itself and the perspectives of the care-recipients.

KEYWORDS:

• Caregiving students
• reconciliation of study and care
• systematic literature review
• university care culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lea Knopf

Lea Knopf is a master’s student in Social Policy at the University of Bremen, Germany. In her studies and research she focuses on institutions and policies in regard to health care, long-term care and the social circumstances of older adults.

Karla Wazinski

Karla Wazinski is a master’s student in Educational Science at Goethe University Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Her research interests are on life course transitions and the mid and late adulthood.

Anna Wanka

Anna Wanka is a postdoctoral researcher in the research training group ‘Doing Transitions’ at Goethe University Frankfurt/Main, Germany. She did her PhD in Sociology at the University of Vienna. As a sociologist and critical gerontologist her research interests comprise the social practices of doing age, life course transitions, ageing and place, as well as ageing and technologies as well as mixed-methods research designs.

Moritz Hess

Moritz Hess is a professor of gerontology at the University of Applied Sciences Niederrhein. His research focus is on ageing, life course, welfare state comparison and ageism.