Cultural Attitudes and Caregiver Service Use: Lessons from Focus Groups with Racially and Ethnically Diverse Family Caregivers

Focus groups were conducted with caregivers from eight racial-specific or ethnic-specific populations (African Americans, Chinese, Filipinos, Hispanics, Koreans, Native Americans, Russians, and Vietnamese), to examine cultural variations in caregiving experiences,care-related values and beliefs, care practices, and factors contributing to decisions about the use of caregiver support services. Analysis of focus group transcripts revealed three cross-cutting constructs: familism, group identity, and attitudinal and structural barriers to service use. We discuss these findings in terms of their implications for existing knowledge regarding family responsibility, resource utilization, and program development for racially and ethnically diverse family caregivers. (C) 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.