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Self-care is defined as the ability to take care of one’s body and health with or without the help of healthcare personnel. The purpose of this paper is to explore the opportunities for self-care among imprisoned women within the constraints of a confined life, which, in turn, affect their health.

Primary data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with 90 women in three prisons in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Findings reveal that a majority of the women cited the inability to self-care was due to factors such as constricted architecture, specific penal policies that thwarted relational contexts in prisons and also the loss of control over their consumptive choices. However, it was found that coping mechanisms also existed among some women who actively constituted penal spaces for self-care. Many long-term imprisoned women tried to actively engage themselves in daily activities such as the “labour” allotted to them.

The paper concludes that abilities to self-care have a deep impact on the health of women, which if not facilitated will lead to a health depleting experience. At a time when Indian prisons are focussing on rehabilitation, the recommendations for providing opportunities for self-care in prisons can minimize the “pains” of imprisonment and pave the way for rehabilitation.

The research is based on data collected during original fieldwork conducted in three prisons in West Bengal, India. It provides valuable insights on how penal environments affect self-care opportunities of imprisoned women.

Residential academic campuses generally support a skewed population profile that favours a younger population, mainly the student community, and thereby marginalize the needs of the older people staying within the campus. Health delivery systems are often not in accordance with the needs of staff members co-habiting with their aged parents and relatives as well as older staff members themselves. This poses a serious problem, especially in India, where filial piety is a norm and many employees cohabit with their parents. Moreover, the Government of India has reformulated its retirement policy under which the age for superannuation of teaching staff has been enhanced. This in turn, has raised the older-younger ratio in campuses in recent years. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

To address these issues, a household survey was carried out on older people staying in a residential academic campus of India followed by a focus group discussion with family caregivers of the older people.

It was found that older people were a marginalized group in campus, as health delivery system and allied facilities were not consistent with their needs. As a result, they and their family caregivers faced various challenges.

This is the first study exploring the possibility of academic campuses in India to emerge as alternate sites for supporting older care.

Purpose – Academic campuses in India in recent years have witnessed an increase in the proportion of older people due to the rise in the age of superannuation of faculty and their cohabitation with older parents. However, such campuses continue to have a skewed program which favor the needs of the younger population. For the present study, a residential academic campus equipped with a health care facility was selected to understand the challenges of the family caregivers of older people residing in it.

Methodology/Approach – Exploratory in-depth interviews were conducted with 154 family caregivers. Secondary data were obtained from the campus hospital records.

Findings – Data revealed that family caregivers experienced various challenges in providing older care in the campus due to unavailability of paid supportive caregivers, lack of community support, and inadequate housing. Though the academic campus has a health care facility, the entitlement rights to it varies among the older people in campus. While the campus health facility was not congenial for family caregiving, it was utilized as a space for providing long-term care. This chapter suggests the need to extend a public heath model of family caregiving in campus.

Research limitations/implications – The study has implication for modifying similar academic campuses in India for facilitating family caregivers of older people.

Originality/Value of Paper – This is the first study of its kind which explored the challenges of family caregiving for older people in academic campuses in India.