Vulnerability & Care

Caring takes time. Antonio Argandoña, explains its importance in the home.

Antonio Argandoña, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Business Ethics at IESE Business School, Director at Home Renaissance Foundation and author, explains the importance of care at home.

We all know of people who have been anxious and afraid because of the pandemic and we know from experience that we can be vulnerable and can suffer from harm or pain and be physically or emotionally damaged. This is not new: despite our desire for autonomy, human beings are and, we know we are, vulnerable, not only in the first and last stages of our lives, but also in periods of greatest vitality. 

One consequence of this fragility is that we have to ask for help: from our weakness comes the need for others like us to give us what we need and what we do not have. And in turn, the experience of the vulnerability of others - and our own - makes us more aware of the needs of others. 

This is where care comes from: a unique relationship that involves two parties, the caregiver and the person being treated, each with their rights and obligations, which is not limited to a commercial exchange. In care, there are four basic provisions: attention (willingness to understand that the other person has a need), responsibility (attitude to respond and offer help), competence (ability to provide effective care) and sensitivity (the effort to understand what the person in need is manifesting). 

From these four dispositions, we can deduce that the ideal caregiver is a person close to the one who needs care, is linked to them by emotional ties, is ready to act and is willing to serve the needs of the other. Of course, the four conditions are only met in a few cases, but at least they show the ideal profile, whether it is a family member, a professional or a stranger who helps us in an emergency. 

Traditionally, the home is the environment in which care is provided to vulnerable people, but these services are increasingly outsourced: care is transferred from the family sector where it is free of charge to the paid private sector and, finally, to the public sphere and institutional sector. And this makes sense: if human dignity is the basis of social ethics, the duty of vigilance must be extended to the whole of society. Caring is not just about showing interest, comforting or being willing, but effectively solving problems, which helps the person in need to flourish, also developing virtues, social habits, and capacities in the caregiver and in society. 

But the home continues to be the point of reference for care, because it is there that the needs mainly emerge: because the members of the family are those who are in the best situation to know the existence of these needs, and because the people who need it spontaneously seek the attention of those with whom they share or have shared their lives. For example, older people often prefer to stay at home or with their children, at least until the nature of the care they need compels them to seek residential or nursing care. And even so, they try to make these institutions look as much like their home as possible, which is always the point of comparison. 

Home care is not practised en masse, but in a personalised way, because each person is unique, with their own biology, biography, freedom and life project; that's why home care is done in person. Caring is contributing to a vulnerable person's life plan, which requires attention, sympathy and attention to detail, smiling is often the most effective way to help a disabled elderly person or a sick child. And the same goes for care in a hospital or nursing home. At home, the care is comprehensive: care is not seen as addressing an illness or handicap, but for the wellbeing of the person who must be treated with respect. This includes respect for their privacy, combining familiarity or closeness of family with confidentiality, respect for certain facts and situations, which is the basis of the trust with which the person being treated is left in the hands of their caregiver. This is why we said previously that the relationship between these people cannot be reduced to a contract, even if it is its legal manifestation. Finally, at home, care consists of companionship in life: between the caregiver and the person being treated - an 'us' is created which helps to overcome the moments of loneliness that will necessarily be generated, because there is someone who, even then, thinks about him or her and takes care of their needs. 

Antonio Argandoña 

This article was previously published in Spanish newspapers; the Home Renaissance Foundation has kindly given us permission to reprint it here 

The Home Renaissance Foundation