ABSTRACT
This chapter examines what is known from the Australian context about caregiving provided by co-resident family or friends to care recipients who are typically aged over 65. The burden of caregiving is identified as largely a gendered issue that is predominantly entrapping women—the daughters, mothers, or partners of people needing regular care across a wide spectrum of activities. Family-based caregiving in Australia is provided by over 2.3 million people of all ages, marital/partner status, socioeconomic status, gender, those with and without children, in waged employment, or unemployed. Community-based caregiving is not a new initiative, even though there is now greater public awareness of the need for individuals to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders carers experience the same range of physical and emotional burdens from their role as do white Australians, including social isolation and loneliness, changed family relations, and a profound sense of loss and grief.
