Family ties and care for aged parents at home

Abstract

A qualitative study of 15 families caring for an elderly parent in a noninstitutional setting was conducted for the purpose of discovering how families perceive and carry out their responsibilities to their older relatives. Forty-three persons representing up to three generations per family were interviewed. They articulated the meaning of their responsibility to care for the parent, how they learned to be responsible to family members, and what experiences inside and outside the family shaped their sense of responsibility. They expressed their views about how family caregiving labor should be divided between male and female members. Questions about the factors that affected use of services provided by persons other than family were asked of all families.

Results suggested that caregiving in this context requires balancing the needs of the parent with those of the whole family. Caregivers learn their responsibilities through incorporating family member expectations, through role modeling of family and friends, and through a continuous process of role-making. A sense of filial responsibility is shaped by feelings and interpersonal ties within the multigenerational family. Although respondents were divided in their thinking about which gender was best suited to assist the aged parent, most families practiced a very traditional gendered division of labor when helping their parents. Of the factors affecting use of formal care services, need of the older person for additional assistance was the most important. The family’s sense of responsibility was not altered by use of formal care services.

Data from this study advance development of family caregiving theory by specifying relationships among perceptions of responsibility to the older person, individual and family ethos, and family caregiving patterns, and by delineating the components of family ethos. Findings affirm previous theoretical work on factors that affect family use of formal services. Results demonstrate that formal care services are valued by elderly persons and their families, and suggest the need for long-term care policies that offer home care services to all disabled adults. Findings indicate that obtaining data from multiple family members is desirable when seeking information about family relationships that contribute to family caregiving patterns.