It is increasingly possible for couples with differing care needs to move to nursing homes together. To our knowledge, this is the first study about spousal caregiving in this context. This study explores spouse and staff experiences when relatively healthy spouses cohabit with and provide care to their partners in Swedish nursing homes. The overarching theme, ?being in-between,? reflects the spouse?s overlapping role transition and the staff?s unfamiliarity with the spouse?s role. The spouses are both ?insiders? and ?outsiders? and are torn between maintaining and letting go of caregiving. Meanwhile, the staff express concern about the spouse?s need for respite yet being constantly present, and struggle to balance the staff?s and the spouse?s control of the caregiving situation. This article provides insight into the challenges experienced by spouses who accompany their partners to residential care and how to best support them in this unfamiliar role.

Older people ageing with severe mental illness (SMI) usually fall in between mental health care and old age care services. The role of informal care in filling this gap is recognized. The role of other welfare providers, such as voluntary organizations, is unclear. The aim of this article is to analyze and discuss local voluntary organizations' ability to recognize and respond to the needs of older people with SMI in the community.

11 local organizations focusing on mental illness, social care or old age were identified in a mid-sized Swedish city. Seven voluntary organizations participated in the study.

Our analysis revealed three overarching themes: 'Age as a non-issue?', 'Public and voluntary sector (non)links' and 'organizational vulnerabilities'. Our results show that older people with SMI are to some extent also invisible in the voluntary sector. We were also able to discern differences in the 'we-for-us' organizations that provide support for their own members with SMI, and 'we-for-them' organizations that provide help to a broader group.

Overall, older people with SMI remain a relatively invisible as a group for the voluntary organizations. We discuss these findings in relation to the specificity of the group and welfare contexts of voluntary work in communities.

In Sweden, eligibility to move to a nursing home is usually based on an individual needs assessment. In 2012, an amendment to the Social Services Act was enacted, giving persons with residential care the right to live with a spouse in the nursing home, even if the spouse is relatively healthy and does not need nursing care. In this article, two contrasting case studies of cohabiting couples are presented. These case studies are based on field observations and qualitative interviews with the couples and staff in two nursing homes in two Swedish municipalities. The article shows that local municipal guidelines, establishing who has the right to help and care, affect the ways that both the staff and the couple talk about the spouse’s rights and roles as a coresident in the nursing home. In the two cases, there were also different staff attitudes about the spouse’s need for support in the role as spousal caregiver.