Transitions in male caregiving: role enactment in a long term care facility (original) (raw)

Maculinity: gender roles, characteristics and coping, 2008

Abstract

Few studies have focused on male caregiving within the formal context of a long-term care facility. This brief report explores the experience of a group of men who had been primary, at-home carers for their dependent wives, and had continued the care provision after entering as a couple in a long term care facility. Four men aged between 81 and 88 years old were interviewed on their adjustment to that transitional event and on the respective changes in their involvement with care work. Transcribed interviews were analysed using a qualitative constructivist approach. Main findings indicate that these men’s transition was marked by a strong continuity of their involvement with caregiving responsibilities and that this was shaped by the wish to keep the emotional tie to their wives. Due to the new contextual circumstances and shared responsibilities with the formal helpers, these husbands underwent a process of redefining their role as carers based upon supervision and protectiveness. Discussion examines how these findings express the manner in which these men embody their masculinity in the caregiving role.

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