Family Involvement Within Assisted Living: Care-Receivers' and Caregivers' Roles and Relationships

<p>Family systems providing informal care and support to their aging relatives, who were residing in assisted living systems and receiving formal care were central to this study. A broader understanding of family involvement, with respect to exploring both care-receiver and caregiver roles and relationships, within the regulatory and environmental context of assisted living was sought through a qualitative research process. This study employed a phenomenological approach to conduct in-depth interview sessions with eight pairs of participants, comprising elderly residents in five assisted living facilities and their respective caregiving family members, typically a daughter or son and, in one case, a close friend, all of whom were personally interviewed. A total of 16 participants were interviewed individually. The three dominant themes that emerged from care-receivers and their caregiving relatives' experiences, which characterized and impacted their family involvement, were (1) Coping efforts and attitudes that characterize the aging, the care-receiving, and the caregiving processes; (2) Enduring and changing roles and relationships in family systems; and (3) The paradox of institutional long-term care, as it created both relief and stress for elderly care-receivers' and their caregivers in family systems. A systems/ecological framework is applied to explicate these findings, and policies pertaining to assisted living, and their economic implications for the long-term care process are also discussed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Solomon, Rachel Vineet

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jean F. East, Ph.D.
• Enid O. Cox, Ph.D.
• Kathleen Ohman
• Walter LaMendola
• Kathy Green

• Assisted living
• Family involvement
• Relationships
• Roles
• Experimental Analysis of Behavior
• Psychology
• Social Work

Statement dc:rights

• <p>Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.</p>

Language dc:language

en

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/616

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.du.edu:etd-1615