Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OLDER PEOPLE NURSING
Volume 3, Issue 2, Pages 131-137Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-3743.2007.00092.x
Keywords
caring; gender; informal care; nursing home
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Objectives. The aim of this study is to describe, from a gender identity perspective, the experiences of older men involved in the process of caring for a partner at home and the placement into a nursing home. Background. Few studies have paid attention to the importance of gender when considering the social experiences of older men providing care for an ill spouse and finally placing a partner in a nursing home. Further understanding is much needed of how older men experience the process of caring for a spouse from a gender identity perspective. Design. A qualitative constructivist approach was adopted for this study. Participants. Data consists of interviews with seven men that have been informal carers and experienced the placement of their wife in a nursing home. Methods. Interviews were analysed with a constructivist approach. Results. The results indicate that men go through two transitions in their gender identity during the caregiving process and placement. From the mutual loving relationship of being a loving husband, the social responsibility of daily care of their wives changes the situation into that of being a caring husband, and finally with the move to a nursing home there is a transition from intimate care to a relationship based on friendship. Conclusions. The results show that older caregiving men undergo a process involving a reconstruction of gender identity. To formally recognize men's caring activities and to make them sustainable, we believe that men in an informal caring relationship need support.
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