Mexican-origin women's concepts of caregiving: A qualitative study

Studies have shown that, compared to other populations, Mexican-American families delay the institutionalization of elders and the reasons underlying their decisions to delay the placement of elders are not well understood. This study qualitatively examined Mexican-origin, female caregivers' conceptualizations of caregiving in terms of cultural beliefs, social norms, role functioning, and familial obligations. This study also examined the kinds of activities that Mexican-origin caregivers defined as giving care to older relatives. One-time, semi-structured interviews were conducted with forty-four caregivers living in East Los Angeles. Audio files were transcribed and analyzed in the language of the interview, Spanish or English. Transcripts were repeatedly examined for thematic content, using Atlas.ti software. Thus far in our analysis, two key themes have emerged from our grounded analysis of the data. First, the majority of caregivers reported that caregiving was physically and emotionally tiring and that they would like to receive additional caregiving information and support. For example, caregivers believed that the support offered by respite services, support groups and medical information services would help them be better caregivers. Second, caregivers viewed long-term care institutions, such as nursing homes, as less desirable sources of care. Despite caregivers' perceptions that long-term care institutions had the potential to be better able to meet care-receivers' instrumental needs (e.g., dietary needs, medical needs, etc.), caregivers viewed long-term care institutions as environments that could not provide the levels of emotional care and support that elders need and receive in home environments.