Sitting in Wait: Everyday Caregiving Practices for People with Dementia in Rural South Africa.

Practice theories offer potential to reveal, understand, and attribute value to the everyday thoughts and actions of dementia caregivers. Drawing on ethnographic data from research in rural South Africa, on everyday dementia care practices, we highlight the profound importance of mundane practices - especially "sitting in wait" - for optimizing wellbeing of people with dementia who are cared for at home. We draw attention to the structural drivers of homebased (informal) care, which is underpinned by state inaction. This situates the act of sitting in wait as both an act of care and an embodied form of structural powerlessness.

Conceptualisations of "good care" within informal caregiving networks for older people in rural South Africa.

Good care in social policy statements is commonly implied as familial and person-centred, provided by family members and focused on upholding the autonomy, dignity and respect of the care recipient. Policy consideration of the relational nature of caregiving, the sociomaterial determinants of good care, the practical knowledge of caregivers and responsibilities of the state, is limited. Drawing on the ethics of care theory and a care ecology framework, which conceptualises the dynamic interactions between formal and informal care "systems," we analysed ethnographic data of the interactions of 21 caregivers and their older care recipients in South Africa to understand how they conceptualised good care. Conceptualisations of good care included: having the right, altruistic and reciprocal, motivations; providing care frequently and consistently; and demonstrating hope for a better future through practical action. Caregivers also considered restricting autonomy a feature of good care, when doing so was perceived to be in the care recipient's best interest. Conceptualisations of good care were influenced by but also countered policy and cultural ideals. When they subverted policy values and practices, by overriding autonomy, for instance, caregivers' conceptualisations reflected their practical experiences of caregiving amidst gross material inadequacies, underpinned by deficiencies in the formal care system. We highlight the need for policies, interventions and theories of care that focus broadly on the care ecology and particularly on the "carescape" (formal care system). We advocate relational approaches that consider and balance the needs, desires and rights of caregivers and care recipients, and recognise caregivers' experiential knowledge, rather than person-centred approaches that focus exclusively on the care recipient.