WELL CARE at ILPN in London
Maria Nilsson, Director of the Swedish Family Care Competence Centre (Nka), shared research from the WELL CARE project at the 8th International Conference on Evidence-Based Policy in Long-Term Care, hosted by the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC), London School of Economics and Political Science.
Her presentation, “Responsibility Without Control: How Swedish Key Informants Interpret Policy Conditions for Informal Carers’ and LTC Workers’ Mental Wellbeing” — co-authored with Lennart Magnusson and Elizabeth Hanson (Linnaeus University, Swedish Family Care Competence Centre) — drew on key informant interviews in Sweden. The findings point to a central paradox called responsibility without control: both LTC workers and informal carers shoulder substantial responsibility for care while having little mandate to shape the conditions they work in, compounded by the gap between national ambitions and municipal delivery, a struggle for political visibility, and high public expectations of the welfare state. The implication is clear — quality of care rests on the wellbeing of those who provide it, so strengthening their voice, mandate and recognition needs to become an explicit policy aim.
The conference, held on 9–11 September, brought together researchers, policymakers and practitioners from around the world to share the latest research and experiences, and to discuss the future of long-term care.
