Emotion Work in Family Caregiving for Persons with Dementia

Emotion work enhances emotional well-being and emotional support in relationships between two people. Emotion work is a part of family work but has not been described in the context of caring for a family member with dementia. Content analysis applied to 11 interviews of informal caregivers describi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Issues in mental health nursing 2013-01, Vol.34 (1), p.52-58
Main Authors: Simpson, Cherie, Acton, Gayle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease - nursing
Alzheimer Disease - psychology
Caregivers - psychology
Carers
Caring
Cognitive Dissonance
Cost of Illness
Decision Making
Dementia
Emotional wellbeing
Emotions
Family Relations
Female
Home Nursing - psychology
Humans
Interview, Psychological
Male
Middle Aged
Nursing
Parenting - psychology
Pilot Projects
Self Care - psychology
Social Support
Weighing
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Summary:Emotion work enhances emotional well-being and emotional support in relationships between two people. Emotion work is a part of family work but has not been described in the context of caring for a family member with dementia. Content analysis applied to 11 interviews of informal caregivers describing their interactions with a person with dementia resulted in four categories of emotion work: (1) managing feelings, (2) weighing options, (3) being parental, and (4) ensuring emotional well-being. Caregivers performed emotion work to meet the feeling rules of being a good caregiver, but often with emotional dissonance between the caregivers' true feelings.
ISSN:0161-2840
1096-4673
DOI:10.3109/01612840.2012.720649