Gestire il fardello della cura: le reti di sostegno agli anziani fuori dalle istituzioni sanitarie

Managing the burden of care: support networks of elderlies outside health- care institutions Starting from a qualitative research carried out in the Province of Trento, this contribution aims at understanding how elderly people with complex medical prescriptions manage their therapies and everyday life outside healthcare institutions. Using the concept of «burden of treatment», we analyse different network configurations in which patients, relatives, health professionals and other caregivers play different roles. Finally, we discuss empirical results in relation to wider social and institutional trends that have characterized the Italian scenario in the last decades.