"He calls me his angel of mercy": the experience of caring for elderly parents in the home.

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative ethnography was to describe the experience of caregivers who resided with their elder dependent parents and to discover caregiver needs. Five women between the ages of 35 and 73 years who cared for and shared residence with their dependent elder parents participated in the study. As prescribed by Field and Morse's method of data analysis, interviews were transcribed verbatim, and concepts and subconcepts were discovered in the data. The findings reflecting the experience of caregiving and a discovery of caregiver needs assisted in identifying three concepts--needs, motivation, and helpers/hindrances--and six subconcepts--quiescence, emancipation, love for parent, avoiding institutionalization, family, and formal support. These concepts and subconcepts contributed to the development of the model of kin-keeper for caregivers. This model has consideration as a level I theory. It offers to nursing an explanation of the behaviors of caregivers and provides an improved understanding of the process of caregiving as related to holistic nursing practice. Further research and development of the model to a level I theory are recommended, as is the use of a larger and more diverse population.