"This project aims to understand the dynamic structuring of emergent occupational and organizational forms in health care services. Employment growth in health related fields leads labor markets today. This growth results from a well known economic and demographic phenomenon affecting mostly Europe and North America, namely, the increasing demand for healthcare and social assistance because of an aging population and longer life expectancy. These social changes imply more than just a growing need for management of the expanding provision of health care and social services. They also mean profound transformations in the institutional and social settings where care is given, as the health care system moves away from large hospitals and centers around focused-care organizations and individuals’ homes. However, limited research exists concerning the effect of these changes on the emergence of new occupations and the need for multidisciplinary work approaches in caring for the aged. In addition, there is little in understanding the educational programs necessary to develop competencies in these jobs. Because these trends encompass large geographical regions (Europe and USA) and involve different disciplines such as health management, labor relations and sociology of work, the Researcher has built an international and interdisciplinary team of scholars from the USA, Italy and now Spain. Overall, the project aims to achieve: (a) an understanding of health caregivers’ jobs and the design of a corresponding educational program, that would permit employees to effectively deliver quality care; (b) an adequate definition of healthy elderly quality of life (QOL), departing from the multiple conceptualizations currently used in research; and (c) a theoretical framework that would help categorize the growing number and type of organizations and occupations in the health care sector."