Direct care is the actual provision of services and attention to physical and biological needs, which involves a transfer of time and face-to-face interaction between those providing and those receiving care. Indirect care is the transfer, through some component of a social system, of the mechanisms required for individuals to tend to their own care needs (Gimenez, 2003). Direct care may take three forms: (i) care that is spontaneous —i.e. provided on an occasional and voluntary basis rather than as part of an ongoing relationship, (ii) care that is necessary —i.e. care that people cannot provide for themselves, such as the care given to children or to those who are ill, and (iii) personal services —i.e. care that the recipients could provide to themselves, but that they delegate to someone else.