This is the objective of the second edition of an international conference being held by the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy, and Social Work at the URV

The second edition of the International Conference on the Care of Elderly and Dependent People is taking place today, Thursday, and tomorrow, Friday, at the Catalunya Campus of the URV. The event is being organized by the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy, and Social Work and aims to determine how the current care model can be improved. With nearly one hundred participants, the conference is bringing together researchers from national and international universities specializing in the care of elderly people, healthcare professionals focused on geriatric care, and representatives of social movements politically and socially committed to improving the current care model.

“Elderly care is a very worrying issue; it is a care model that we have not yet resolved,” says Montserrat Soronellas, a researcher in the URV’s Department of Anthropology, Philosophy, and Social Work and a member of the scientific committee of the conference. And this, she explains, is the spirit of the 2nd International Conference on the Care of Elderly and Dependent People; that is, “to determine what is happening with the model and see how we can influence it to improve it.” To address this goal, the organizers have created a programme that includes representatives from the key groups currently leading efforts to improve the model.

The event, lasting two days, began with the first symposiums and the inaugural session, led by Antoni Nomdedeu, dean of the Faculty of Arts at the URV. Following this, Jason Danely will deliver a lecture on the “cultural drivers” of caregiving, i.e., the ethical principles, which vary in each culture, that motivate caregiving. Danely, a professor of anthropology at Oxford Brooks University, will also discuss the political implications of families taking on caregiving duties in a system that has delegated this responsibility to them.

At the end of the first day of the conference, the organization, strongly linked to initiatives such as the Care Social Forum, has dedicated time to social and political commitment and caregiving activism, hence the proposed debate featuring Pilar Nogués from the SAD Union, Carmen Juárez from the caregivers’ association Amb Cura, Txomin Lasa from the ELA Union in the Basque Country, and María José Carcelén, Coordinator of Residences 5+1.

Key presentations on the second day include Mónica Ramos, a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid and author of the book Aging as a Woman: Difficulties, Opportunities, and Challenges, and Dolors Comas d’Argemir, Emeritus Professor at the URV. Ramos will reflect on how aging in women is unique in terms of care and will also discuss how women experience aging while assuming the role of caregiver for their family members. Comas d’Argemir, who will deliver the closing session, will focus on the care of elderly and dependent people in terms of social and political commitment, positioning it as “a political issue of the highest order.”

The 2nd International Conference on the Care of Elderly and Dependent People is promoted by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and involves the participation of the University of La Coruña and the University of Granada. Researchers from the URV, the University of Barcelona, the University of Valencia, the University of Zaragoza, and Pompeu Fabra University also collaborate. It is an activity within the Caremodel project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.