The interplay between women's life course work patterns and financial planning for later life.

In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between women's life course work patterns and their financial planning for later life, we examined data from semi-structured interviews with retired women (n = 28) aged 59 to 92. The majority of women disrupted their careers at some point in time, for an average of 14 years, primarily for child-rearing responsibilities. We found that financial preparedness and income security in later life are structured by women's life course work patterns.

Reflexive planning for later life.

Informed by Giddens' (1991) concept of reflexive life planning and the notion of later life as a time of increasing social and financial risk, this research explores the idea of reflexive planning for later life. We utilize a conceptual model that incorporates three types of planning for later life: public protection, self-insurance, and self-protection. Drawing on qualitative, life-history data from a study of 51 mid-life and older Canadians, we examined whether individuals recognized the risks associated with later life, and if so, how far these recognitions entered into the preparations people made for their futures.

Help to older parents and parents-in-law: does paid employment constrain women's helping behaviour?

While concern has been expressed for some time about the impact of rising female employment on informal help to older adults, few studies have directly compared employed and not-employed women and only rarely has research utilized national, population-based samples. This article examines whether paid employment reduces the provision and/or the intensity of specific types of help offered by women to older parents and parents-in-law. Data were drawn from the 1996 General Social Survey of Canada and consist of a sub-sample of women aged 40 to 64 who had at least one parent or parent-in-law alive.

Working in clients' homes: the impact on the mental health and well-being of visiting home care workers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of working in clients' homes on the mental health and well-being of visiting home care workers. This paper reports the results of a survey of 674 visiting staff from three non-profit home care agencies in a medium-sized city in Ontario, Canada. Survey results are also complimented by data from 9 focus groups with 50 employees.