Caring in Families: What Motivates Wives, Daughters, and Daughters-in-law to Provide Dementia Care?1

Abstract

The literature provides convincing evidence that in western cultures most informal care is provided by wives and other female relatives. Yet in Australia, little empirical research has been collected on the topic of why women adopt care roles. Drawing on qualitative data derived from in-depth interviews (N=39), this paper explores the diverse reasons behind why women adopt dementia care roles and the extent to which a choice is available to them. Some emerging differences between wives, daughters, and daughters-in-law regarding motivation to care are discussed. It is concluded that practitioners working in the field of aged care need to be mindful of the processes involved in decisions to care and of the extent to which informal care may be provided either willingly or reluctantly.