Caring for One’s Wife With Dementia—at Home: Older Husbands’ Experiences With Managing Challenges of Everyday Life

Abstract

More than 80,000 Norwegians live with dementia. Most caregivers for people with dementia are spouses, and women outnumber men. Due to an aging population, and women's higher risk of dementia as well as men's increased life expectancy, the number of male caregivers will rise. There are some differences in the caregiving roles of men and women. Research suggest that males report lower burden and depression than female caregivers, but some men struggle to adjust to the caregiver role, and men are less likely to access health care services. The aim of this study is to explore the experiences of husbands engaged in caregiving for their home-dwelling spouse with dementia. This knowledge will add to the growing body of research about men in the context of dementia care and may raise gender awareness. The method is qualitative interviews with hermeneutical interpretation. The participants are five husbands recruited from two Hospital Memory Clinics in Norway. The results portray how the husbands managed their everyday challenges, and how they adapted to changes, experiences of loss and bereavement, and how they redefined personal freedom and expanded their responsibilities. Acknowledging the rewards of caregiving, the husbands found their life meaningful and they were thriving in their caregiving role. Health care personnel should recognize and respect the challenging life situation caregiving husbands may experience, calling for personnel to learn from, care for, and collaborate with them, enabling the couple to live a meaningful life together at home as long as possible.

‘The care circle consists of me.’ Loneliness and social isolation for older male spousal care-givers. A qualitative study

“…One of the most sought-after relationships to address loneliness amongst older people are those based on closeness and intimacy (Cohen-Mansfield and Eisner, 2020), therefore it could be argued that the perceived loss of the close spousal relationship experienced by older spousal male care-givers in the current study exacerbated their loneliness. Rykkje and Tranvåg (2019) explored older husband's experiences of caring for their wives in Norway (N = 5), and revealed that a decline in mutual interests led to a sense of loneliness for study participants, often underpinning their choice of actions. For example, some husbands chose to stop pursuing mutual interests (such as going to the theatre) after their wife's interest faded.…”

Muistisairauden aiheuttamat käyttäytymisen muutokset ja parisuhteen vastavuoroisuus

“…Aviopuolisot voivat tuntea myös surua, turhautumista, epävarmuutta ja syylli syyttä muistellessaan yhteistä elämäänsä sekä heitä yhdistäviä asioita ja kiinnostuksen koh teita, jotka he olivat aiemmin jakaneet aviopa rina (Boylstein & Hayes 2012;Hernandez ym. 2019;Rykkje & Tranvåg 2019).…”

Through Thick and Thin: The Meaning of Dementia for the Intimacy of Ageing Couples

“…Moreover, one of the essential elements of the couplehood, namely emotional and intellectual reciprocity, may disappear as the condition progresses [ 2 , 3 , 13 , 14 ]. These changes may evoke sadness, frustration, resentment, and guilt as they recall the life and interests previously shared in the couplehood [ 8 , 12 , 15 ].…”