Discourse-derived perspectives: Differentiating among spouses' experiences of caregiving

Abstract

A method of constant comparative analysis was used to code open-ended interviews with 132 spouse caregivers regarding their experiences in caregiving. Results of this analysis yielded 69 qualitative code categories. We used these categories to compare the caregivers on several groupings that the literature has identified as providing meaningful ways to differentiate among caregivers. We used the qualitative responses to compare the caregivers by caregiver gender care-recipient dementia severity, and duration of caregiving. Results partly confirmed previous findings that wife caregivers are more distressed than husbands, but the results also indicated these caregivers were more similar than dissimilar The other analyses likewise indicated greater similarities than dissimilarities in the caregiving experience. We next continued the analysis and, using the coding categories as a springboard, identified four distinct patterns for construction of the meaning of the caregiving experience in the caregivers' discourse. These discourse-derived framing categories, applicable in about three-quarters of the caregivers, offered other ways to distinguish among caregivers. Further analysis of these robust groupings' showed important differences among the groups. These framing categories suggest ways to differentiate among caregivers, based on their perception of their role in the caregiving situation, ways that might point the way to intervention strategies for each of the groupings.

Gendered emotion work around physical health problems in mid- and later-life marriages

“…Gender scholars suggest that the meanings of being a husband include the belief that men are not naturally disposed to understanding emotions or being emotional but rather are able to maintain emotional control and rationality; aging scholars also find this to generally be the expectation for older men (Bennett, 2007; Thompson, 2002). This expectation may shift during physical health problems, especially when men are involved in caregiving; studies find that men do provide care for health-impaired spouses, perhaps as much as women do (Allen & Webster, 2001; Hepburn et al, 2002; Pinquart & Sorensen, 2006). Past research reports that caregiving men are rarely understood (or understand themselves) as emotionally nurturing, yet these studies do not examine men’s provision of emotion work in the context of their or their spouse’s physical health problems (Calasanti, 2004; Calasanti & Bowen, 2006).…”

“…However, individual-level approaches provide only one spouse’s perceptions of emotion work and physical health problems, overlooking the inherent dyadic dimensions of physical health problems in marriage (Hepburn et al, 2002; Kirsi, Hervonen, & Jylhä, 2000). For example, studies of health-impaired people identify how physical health problems challenge the gender identity of the health-impaired person (Pudrovska, 2010; Wall & Kristjanson, 2005), while studies of people with a health-impaired spouse identify how gender inequalities are often produced and reproduced through care work (Calasanti & Bowen, 2006; Russell, 2001).…”

Marriage and Mental Health: When a Spouse Has Alzheimer's Disease

“…When spouses first become caregivers, there may be a period of adjustment and negative feelings about the burden of a dependent spouse. Long-term caregivers who volunteered for this study may have been committed partners who enjoyed better coping and less distress, as indicated by findings from other research (Lewis, Hepburn, Narayan, & Kirk, 2005;Hepburn et al, 2002). Spouses who were burdened did experience more depression and poorer quality marriages.…”

Self-Characterizations of Adult Female Informal Caregivers: Gender Identity and the Bearing of Burden

“…Current research reports acknowledge a need to focus on gendered differences in care provision and to design research that addresses the variable of gender in relation to caregiver outcomes (Campbell & MartinMatthews, 2003;Hooker et al, 2000;Houde, 2002;Hunt, 2003;Weitz & Estes, 2001). While more work is needed, recent studies of male and female caregivers suggest females experience more burden and distress than males (Hagedoorn, Sanderman, Buunk, & Wobbes, 2002;Hepburn et al, 2002;Ingersoll-Dayton & Raschick, 2004;Matthews, Dunbar-Jacob, Sereika, Schultz, & McDowell, 2004). Females also have been shown to suffer from poorer emotional and physical health as indexed by caregiving outcomes of anger, anxiety, sadness, depression, fear, uncertainty, general well-being, loneliness, isolation, blood-pressure reactivity and increased cortisol levels (Atienza, Henderson, Wilcox, & King, 2001;Davis et al, 2004;Haley, LaMonde, Han, Burton, & Schonwetter, 2003;Langer, 2003;Matthews, 2003;Navaie-Waliser, Spriggs, & Feldman, 2002;Rudd, Finey, & Preston, 1999;Yee & Schulz, 2000).…”