The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #43454

Carolyn A. Mendez, MPH, Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, 310-794-0984, camendez@ucla.edu

Women in Mexican society are experiencing multiple role strains due to changing social and demographic trends similar to those documented in the United States. This study examines how women in a Mexico City suburb define caregiving for older persons, with an emphasis on the roles that culture and external resources play in the caregiving experience. Data were collected through in-depth interviews of forty-two women on their caregiving experiences to familial elderly persons. Results suggest that women define caregiving as an obligation, an umbrella concept that ranges from reciprocity and good will to force and no choice. The concept of obligation is shaped through family role assignments that encompass age and gender as well as from general beliefs about health and aging. Levels of negative and positive consequences of caregiving mediate how women define the concept of obligation. Caregivers experiencing high degrees of social isolation and emotional distress tend to regard obligation in negative terms whereas caregivers receiving emotional benefits from caregiving tend to view obligation as acts of good will and of reciprocity. Results also suggest that caregiving is becoming difficult within the changing social and economic landscape, one that includes pressures to enter the workforce, changing attitudes toward the elderly, and higher costs of living. Results from this study illuminate the issues of caregiving in Mexico as the elderly population continues to grow, indicating that developing countries are likely to face pressures on long-term care systems in the near future similar to those that developed countries currently encounter.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to
• describe the umbrella concept of obligation, and
• identify characteristic differences in the concept of obligation between caregivers who experience negative consequences of caregiving and caregivers who experience positive consequences of caregiving.

Keywords: International, Caregivers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.