PhD student Anna Kuznetsov recently published a discussion article in the International Journal of Care and Caring based on interviews conducted with Canadians providing unpaid care to individuals with disabilities. The study was a collaboration between Professor Ito Peng in the Sociology Department at UofT, and the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, funded by SSHRC, the Open Society Foundations, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Azrieli Foundation. Anna served as one of eight graduate student research assistants on this project.
The interviews reveal the significant amount of advocacy work that unpaid caregivers feel they need to engage in to secure funding and services for their loved ones. This advocacy takes skill and resources and contributes to the heavy burden of caregiving. It also negatively impacts caregivers’ finances, health, and mental health, with marginalized caregivers often struggling the most.
To read more about this research, visit https://doi.org/10.1332/23978821Y2025D000000161.
Anna Kuznetsov is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Within sociology, she is interested in the fields of health, gender, care, and social policy. In her dissertation, Anna will examine how women’s breastfeeding experiences are shaped by intensive mothering ideals and medicalization.