Action Research by Community Nurses on the Family Caregiving for the Elderly

Abstract

The authors, community nurses, collected the narratives of the family caregivers who cared the old family members who were spending their lives mostly in bed. The narratives concerned the events that occurred for the old and the psychological states that the caregiver experienced since he/she became involved in the caregiving. It was found that many family caregivers hesitated to rely on public support service due to the social norm that the old should be cared by family members without depending on public services. The authors held a seminar in which they attempted to share the narratives with participants who were living in the same community as the research subjects to increase the understanding of family caregiving and to change the social norm.