FICOPSAD

This project addresses public policy issues and social innovation in relation to the demographic challenges that face France and Québec. Its main goal is to investigate the role of the State and that of other social actors in policy design and implementation in the area of homecare for the elderly,in order to seize how political and administrative mechanisms actually operate in this area and to assess capacities to substantiate the idea of a general interest. Population in France and in Québec is aging at a rapid pace, and this demographic challenge raises crucial issues in terms of providing adequate homecare services in the future. Our project thus addresses questions of policy design and implementation, costs and accessibility of homecare; responses to these questions will affect the quality of life of seniors in the long run and ultimately their choice of staying home or moving to nursing homes. Our research aims at investigating : 1) to what extent public policy is being « co-constructed » by government and actors from private and nonprofit sectors as part of a larger policy process, and can such process generate innovative forms of social actions and more freedom of action for policy implementation ; 2) what repercussions such new repertoire of actions may have on social groups engaging in homecare policy, taking into account their different statuses, resources and responsibilities in the delivery of homecare as well as external constraints associated with the contingencies of daily life and the special needs of seniors living at home; 3) finally, which means can senior citizens rely on, individually or as a social group, in order to partake in such political dynamics and organisational settings and voice their opinions and needs about homecare delivered at local levels. We will approach our research questions by focusing on the strategies put forward by social actors concerned by issues and challenges of homecare, and the means by which their respective participation as part of a large scope of stakeholders can take place in the ‘co-construction’ and decision-making of public policy in this area. Data will be collected so as to provide the tools for an appraisal of the impacts on professional development, quality of service delivery and responses to the needs of the elderly. Experimental field research methodology based on jointly led French-Québec missions (‘binômes ’) in 4 different regions should provide original comparative material.