Background and Objectives By shedding light on the reasons why persons with a migration background (PwM) may take up the role of family caregiver of a person with dementia, and how this relates to gender norms, we aim to elucidate cultural and social dynamics that impede care sharing. Research Design and Methods A qualitative study of 12 PwM who provide care, or have recently provided care, for a family member with dementia was conducted through semi-structured interviews. Identified themes and patterns were analyzed with the help of Hochschild’s interpretive framework of framing and feeling rules. Findings Our findings illuminate how motivations to provide care are framed through two moral framing rules, reciprocal love and filial responsibility, and how these framing rules are accompanied by the feeling rule of moral superiority over non-caregiving family members. We show how shared dementia care is impeded though these moral framing and feeling rules, and how gender norms impact on an unequal distribution of care-tasks. Implications Healthcare practitioners should identify the moral dialectics of caregiving. This means that, on the one hand, they should be aware that moral framing rules may pressure women into exclusive caregiving, and that this can lead to health problems in the long term. On the other, healthcare practitioners should recognize that providing care can create a deep sense of pride and moral superiority. Therefore, showing acknowledgement of the caregiver contribution is a crucial step in creating trust between the caregiver and healthcare practitioner. Furthermore, asking for support should be normalized. Governmental advertisements on care–support can achieve this.
Little is known regarding the ways in which practitioners' views and approaches impact support for persons with a migration background (PwM) caring for individuals with dementia. This paper responds to this knowledge gap by identifying how practitioners frame dementia care in families with a migration background, and how these frames can be understood in light of the experiences of PwM caring for a family member with dementia. A total of 41 participants were included: ten practitioners (i.e. health and social care workers) and 31 PwM caring for a family member with dementia. All participants were part of a qualitative research project on dementia care in Dutch families with a migration background. Practitioners' expressed frames were identified through Hochschild's interpretive framework of ‘framing and feeling rules’. Thereafter, practitioners' identified frames were related to the care experiences of PwM caring for a family member with dementia. Findings indicate that practitioners operate within an approach that does not sufficiently take into account the uniqueness of each family carer. This leads to frictions within the practitioner–client relationship. We thus highlight the need for discussions about the tenability of practitioners' views and approaches in an increasingly globalised and diverse society.
The importance of a researcher’s positionality has been well documented in prior studies. Yet, reflections on cross-cultural research from the positionality of a researcher with a migration background are rare. In this paper, I respond to this knowledge gap through a reflexive account of my positionality as a researcher with a migration background who has conducted cross-cultural research concerning dementia care. Following critiques of “ethnic matching,” I apply a reflexive approach in which researcher positionality is understood as intersectional. I illustrate how both commonalities and differences within the researcher-researched relationship impact rapport-building and power dynamics. Also, I highlight how a researcher’s experienced emotions can impact the content and analysis of the collected data. The insights from my reflexive account may help improve research strategies in culturally diverse settings. Moreover, I argue for a reflexive approach – rather than a deployment of “ethnic matching” – throughout future research in this field.
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