Exploring the daily geographies of diverse men caregiving for family members with multiple chronic conditions

Abstract

Within Canada, it has been estimated that almost half of all family, also known as informal, caregivers are now men. However, the contributions and experiences of these caregiver men have received relatively little attention, particularly from geographies of care and caregiving researchers. This analysis hopes to shed light on the unique, yet diverse, experiences of men caregiving for persons with multiple chronic conditions in Canada. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with nineteen men caregivers in two provinces of Canada, this analysis aims to explore how social and physical axes of difference shape men's daily lived geographies when providing care. Our thematic findings reveal that caregiving is experienced by participants at the three scalar levels of the body, the home and the community. Our intersectional analysis reveals that at each scalar level, being a man was not the only variable shaping caregiving experiences. Rather, it was also age, physical capacity, culture, socio-economic status, marital status, housing status, social connectedness, relationship to the care recipient and care recipients' physical and mental capacity that shaped experiences and meanings of place during the caregiving process. Accounting for this diversity at each scale, our findings point to the unique stresses and challenges experienced. We conclude by emphasizing the significance in acknowledging the diverse challenges that exist for all caregivers in order to inform comprehensive and inclusive social policy that ultimately will produce equitable caregiver supports. Explorar las geografías diarias de hombres diversos que cuidan a familiares con enfermedades crónicas múltiples RESUMENDentro de Canadá, se ha estimado que casi la mitad de todos los que cuidan a algún miembro de la familia, conocidos también como cuidadores informales, son actualmente hombres. Sin embargo, las contribuciones y experiencias de estos cuidadores han recibido poca atención, particularmente de lxs investigadorxs de las geografías del cuidado y la salud. Este análisis apunta a echar luz sobre las experiencias únicas, aunque diversas, de los hombres que cuidan a personas con múltiples enfermedades crónicas en Canadá. Basándose en entrevistas semiestructuradas con diecinueve hombres que brindan cuidado en dos provincias de Canadá, este análisis apunta a explorar cómo los ejes social y físico de la diferencia dan forma a las geografías de las vidas cotidianas de los hombres cuando brindan cuidado. nuestros resultados temáticos revelan que el cuidar a alguien se vive por los participantes a los tres niveles escalares del cuerpo, el hogar y la comunidad. nuestro análisis interseccional revela que en cada nivel escalar, el ser hombre no era la única variable que daba forma a las experiencias de brindar cuidado. En cambio, eran también la edad, la capacidad física, la cultura, el estatus socieconómico, el estado civil, la situación habitacional, la conectividad social, la relación con el receptor del cuidado y la capacidad física y mental del/a r...

The complexity of caregiving for community-living older adults with multiple chronic conditions: A qualitative study

“…21 Another study explored the experiences of 19 male caregivers of older adults with MCC. 24,25 This study found that sex, age, marital status, socioeconomic status, physical capacity, social connectedness, and culture all shaped the experiences and meanings of place while caregiving. 24 The authors found that men reported feeling distanced from others as well as feeling intensely connected to others while caregiving.…”

“…24,25 This study found that sex, age, marital status, socioeconomic status, physical capacity, social connectedness, and culture all shaped the experiences and meanings of place while caregiving. 24 The authors found that men reported feeling distanced from others as well as feeling intensely connected to others while caregiving. 25 Health care services and systems are generally focused on single conditions, often resulting in fragmented and poorly coordinated care that is not person-centered for older persons with MCC.…”

Exploring employment as a space of respite and resistance for family caregivers

“…In many cultures, the decision about responsibility for family care‐giving is often based upon expectations associated with gender. Yet increased life expectancy, more women working outside the home and smaller families have increased the pressure on men to assume roles as caregivers as well as women (Giesbrecht, Williams, Duggleby, Ploeg, & Markle‐Reid, ). At the same time, organisations assume that female employees will prioritise the demands of family care‐giving over those of employment and it is generally assumed that male caregivers too will follow prescribed gender roles to prioritise employment over care‐giving (Berdahl & Moon, ; Sethi, Williams, & Ireson, ).…”

Tuning care relations between migrant caregivers and the elderly in Singapore

“…Our discussion contributes to – and arguably extends – Schütz's works by refracting his theorisations on social relations through the prism of the aged ‘cared for’ and migrant ‘carers’. We show that giving and receiving care is not only perceived and experienced differently in different places by different people (Geisbrecht et al ., 2016), but also characterised by disharmony, improvisation and constant retuning.…”