Exploring Help-Seeking Behaviours: Perspectives of Adult-Child Caregivers
Date
2018-11-16
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
As life expectancies increase, so does the rate of older adults diagnosed with dementia; most commonly, in the form of Alzheimer’s disease. An Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis not only impacts the person afflicted, but also people around them who take on the role of caregiver. The role of caregiving often falls on the shoulders of adult-children, who are simultaneously balancing their own life commitments with offering high quality, around the clock care. Many elements impact one’s caregiving experience, including sociodemographic factors such as gender, age, occupation and culture. As the formal service sector works to improve access to support, it is critical to understand the help-seeking behaviours of adult-child caregivers; moreover, in a country like Canada with an abundance of diversity, variations in help-seeking behaviours must be recognized. The purpose of this study was to explore the help-seeking behaviours of adult-children, caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s disease. This qualitative study utilized a multiple case study approach, and was guided by the Anderson Socio-Behavioral Model of Health Service Utilization (1995). Findings from six adult-child caregivers from hyphenated cultural backgrounds suggest that there may be universality to caregiver’s desires and determinants of help-seeking behavior. However, in terms of programs designed for their illness-afflicted parent, themes of linguistic diversity, trauma-sensitivity and culture matching between care providers and service users were presented as important strategies to promote help-seeking behaviours and service utilization. Implications for social work theory, research, practice and policy are presented.
Description
Keywords
Dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Caregiving, help-seeking, service use, diversity
Citation
Samaha, A. S. (2018). Exploring help-seeking behaviours: Perspectives of adult-child caregivers (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/34515