Retirement Migrants and Dependency

This book tells the story of what happens when the &quote;adventure&quote; of living in Spain turns complicated due to the emergence of care needs derived from loss of autonomy. It investigates the care strategies of retirement migrants that must navigate a foreign welfare system and a different &quote;culture of care&quote;, and how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the difficulties they experience accessing care services and information. The book condenses the results of a 4-year (2019-2022) research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science under the title &quote;Retirement migration and the Social Services&quote; and applies a mixed methods approach that combined statistical analysis of secondary data; telephonic interviews with the coordinators of Social Services in more than 80 Spanish municipalities with a high presence of retirement migrants; ethnographic case studies in four municipalities (observation, interviews, focus groups); and an online survey with social workers.