“All my life is one big nursing home”: Russian immigrant women in israel speak about double caregiver stress

Abstract

Adding elder care to the list of women's multiple roles may significantly jeopardize their well-being and health. This qualitative study explored the experiences with multiple roles among 20 middle-aged Jewish women who immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union with their extended families. Before emigration, most informants were professionals or white-collar workers, but in Israel they experienced occupational downgrading and ended up working as attendants or nurses in geriatric care. At home, these women of the “sandwich” generation acted as informal caregivers to their husbands, children and elderly parents. Coupled with the challenges of resettlement, this double caregiver stress led to significant emotional and physical burnout. Exhaustion and tight time budgets led to health problems and poor self-care among these women. The informants' social networks were mainly coethnic, and their coping tools drew on the Israeli–Russian community. The study concludes that, even in the relatively egalitarian Russian–Soviet gender system, women function as principal caregivers, often at the expense of other life goals.