Ethnic Differences in the Expression of Caregiver Burden

Abstract

African American caregivers regularly report less burden than their White counterparts. Less is known about levels of burden among Puerto Rican caregivers. Yet both of these ethnic minority groups tend to provide more hours of care to their elders, mostly due to higher levels of functional disability among ethnic minority elders. A qualitative study was undertaken to detect differences in the way care-givers in three ethnic groups (African American, Puerto Rican and White) describe their experiences with and reactions to caregiving. Caregivers were selected from the larger sample of the Springfield Elder Project, a study of a population-based sample of older adults and their caregivers. Ethnic and gender differences were detected both in how caregivers in the three groups describe the caregiving experience and how they cope with it. White females, and African American and Puerto Rican males expressed feelings of frustration and anger during difficult times in their caregiving situations. Women, particularly African Americans and Puerto Ricans, used somatic complaints as outlets for those feelings. In addition, African American caregivers described their caregiving as an extremely time-consuming activity. Puerto Rican female caregivers described their caregiving situation as one which fostered social isolation. Resignation, denial, respect and faith in religion were ways these caregivers dealt with the burden of their caregiving responsibilities. These findings suggest that African American and Puerto Rican carcgivers are experiencing burden, but expressing it in different ways than White caregivers and that available measures of caregiver burden do not adequately measure the impact of caregiving on minority caregivers.