Experiences of Daughters Caring for a Parent With Alzheimer's Disease Living at Home

Abstract

The current study used purposeful and snowball sampling to interview 12 daughters who were care-givers to their parents with Alzheimer's disease. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using Colaizzi's descriptive phenomenological approach. Caregiving years ranged from 1 to 10 years, with a mean of 5 years. Six themes were uncovered: (a ) Where Are You When I Need You? ; (b ) Safety First ; (c) I Don't Know What to Say or How to Say It ; (d) They Are Beautiful People, but They Aren't Trained ; (e) Letting Go of Who They Were ; and (f) It Affects Every Area of My Life . Findings suggest that caregiver daughters of parents with AD living at home are struggling and indicate a need for better support of caregivers. Implications for nursing practice, research, and education are significant and require a greater focus on the support of informal caregivers of persons with AD. [ Research in Gerontological Nursing, 14 (4), 191–199.]

A mixed method study exploring gender differences in dementia caregiving

“…For example, pre-existing gender beliefs among family members, may explain imbalances in carer expectations, allocation of carer duties and help-seeking approach, particularly between sons and daughters (Addis & Mahalik, 2003; Tatangelo et al, 2018). Daughters are often expected to assume the caring role for their parent with dementia which might prevent them from readily seeking formal assistance (DiLeone, 2021; Romero-Moreno et al, 2014; Tatangelo et al, 2018), whereas sons will readily access formal help because they approach the caring role as “care managers” (Grigorovich et al, 2016, p.4) and may also receive more informal assistance, especially from their partners (Kwok, 2006; McDonnell & Ryan, 2013). Indeed, in this study, we found all sons had accessed formal services and expressed a desire for more support services.…”