Older people’s experiences of getting help from neighbours

The purpose of this paper is to investigate older people’s views and experiences of getting help from neighbours in order to consider whether such help is situated within neighbourliness and the implications for social care policy which seeks to harness help from neighbours.

A qualitative study in which 15 older people from the North of England were interviewed to explore relationships with neighbours, managing day to day life and experiences of getting help from neighbours.

Relationships with helper neighbours were reciprocal, dynamic and preceded the start of getting help. The help offered was not negotiated but evolved in response to changes in circumstances and was commensurate with normative views of neighbourliness, i.e. reciprocated sociability and helpfulness but also respect for privacy. Respondents were reluctant to ask for help. Underpinning such reluctance were perceptions of imposing on neighbours, suggestive of anticipated asymmetry in the give-and-take of neighbourliness.

Policy makers who see the help from neighbours as an output of household production and available as a source of informal care for older people must appreciate that whether help is offered or taken up is dependent on the development of a reciprocal relationship which itself depends on observing and respecting normative boundaries, such as in relation to help giving or receiving and due respect for privacy.

There has been little research into older people’s perspectives on getting help from neighbours despite diminishing public services and neighbours viewed as a potential source of care.