The Elderly Spouses' Experiences of Providing Care for their Bedridden Patient at Home

Abstract

Purpose: This study was to explore and describe the reported experiences of elderly spouses who care their bedridden spouse in the home. Methods: The participants of this study were 14 male and female elderly spouses who live in B metropolitan city and have provided care for more than six months. Data were collected from July 3 to November 6, 2014. Data analysis was done simultaneously with data collection, using the analytical methods of Strauss and Corbin for Grounded theory. Results: The core category was identified as 'going together bearing a heavy burden of care in old age.' In this study, the caring process of elderly spouses can be explained in terms of three stages such as 'a period of trial and error,' 'a period of mastering a role,' and 'a period of role transcendence'. Conclusion:The results of this study can provide an intervention framework to reduce the heavy burden of caring for an elderly spouse. -This manuscript is a condensed form of the first author's doctoral dissertation from Kosin University.Received: Dec 22, 2016 / Revised: Feb 16, 2017 / Accepted: Feb 23, 2017 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.