Understanding the influence of gender role identity on the assumption of family caregiving roles by men

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Chronic Stress among Male Caregivers

Whereas research on caregiving is well documented, less is known about gender inequalities in caregiver stress, coping mechanisms, and health outcomes, all of which may vary by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. This scoping review investigated racial and ethnic disparities using the Stress Process Model among male caregivers. Several databases were searched including Academic Search Premier, Medline Complete, APA PsycInfo, CINHAL, Google, ProQuest, and Web of Science. Included were peer-reviewed articles in English, published from 1990 to 2022. A total of nine articles fulfilled inclusion criteria. Most of the articles indicated that compared to White male caregivers, African American male caregivers provided more hours of care, assisted with more activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), and experienced more financial stress. In terms of coping style, one study found African American male caregivers, compared to White male caregivers, held negative religious beliefs. Another study showed that they were at a higher risk for stroke than their White counterparts. The search revealed a dearth of studies on racial disparities in stress, coping, and health outcomes among male caregivers. Further research is needed on the experiences and perspectives of male minority caregivers.

Characteristics of Family/Friend Care Networks of Frail Seniors

This paper tests assumptions often made by policy makers and practitioners that networks of family, friends, and neighbours are able to provide sustained care to frail elderly Canadians. Using national survey data, we examined characteristics of the care networks of 1,104 seniors living with a long-term health problem. Care networks were found to vary considerably in size, relationship composition, gender composition, age composition, and proximity, and these network characteristics were found to help explain variations in the types and amounts of care received. As a result, network characteristics that might place seniors at risk of receiving inadequate care (including small size and higher proportions of non-kin, male, and geographically distant members) were identified. These risk factors appear to be poorly reflected in most existing policy.

Grandparenting in the 21st century: issues of diversity in grandparent-grandchild relationships

Although previous literature has demonstrated the importance of age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status in understanding grandparent-grandchild relationships, additional factors contribute to a more complete and nuanced understanding of multigenerational relationships. Thorough understanding of the role of diversity requires examination of the discrete impacts of grandparents' gender, sexual orientation, and physical and/or cognitive limitations on the relationship. This article focuses on these 3 important, yet overlooked, issues of diversity, with a focus on strength-based and empowerment-oriented strategies and their implications for practice, policy, and future research.

Caring and Retirement: Crossroads and Consequences

As older workers move closer to retirement, they are more likely to take on caring roles. This may affect their health, retirement plans, and income security. Retired men and women experience the caring role differently, with men less likely to be adversely affected and more likely to accept services and to derive satisfaction from caring. Carers make an important contribution to the lives of the people they care for and to the community. Caring is a productive role that can be sustained into older age, as long as the carer's health and well-being are maintained. More research is needed on the relationship between retirement and caring, to explore the extent of caring and its impact on retirement plans, income, and the physical and mental health of retired carers. This information could then be built into retirement planning to better prepare older workers for this important role. Caring roles and retirement intersect in several ways. About 6 million Americans, 2.6 million Australians, and 6 million people in the United Kingdom are informal carers. People (especially men) are more likely to take on caring roles as they get older and leave the paid workforce. The need to care for a spouse or older relative can be an unanticipated outcome or a precipitator of retirement. Retirement may coincide with illness or disability of a parent or spouse, or may be forced by the demands of caring. Caring may bring about major changes to retirement plans. The financial impact of having been a carer during one's working life may also be felt most keenly on retirement, through the lack of opportunities for savings and retirement fund co-contributions.

Gendered elder care exchanges in a Caribbean village

Caregiver gender research often translates into caregiver accounts of the care they provide for an elder parent or spouse, limiting an understanding of other community members'involvement and the actual gendered elder care activities performed and caregiver benefits received. This article describes women's and men's actual involvement in elder care. These findings are part of a four-phase ethnographic community study that includes in-depth network analysis of elder households. One-hundred and forty-three informal adult caregivers assisted 15 elders in obtaining the things they needed to live, providing 244 care activities. One-hundred and three women provided 194 care activities, and 40 men performed 50 care activities. In exchange, the frail elders gave the women caregivers 132 benefits and the men 54 benefits. Women and men differed in the amount and type of care involvement, as well as their motivational mechanisms for involvement in elder care.

Characteristics of Family/Friend Care Networks of Frail Seniors

This paper tests assumptions often made by policy makers and practitioners that networks of family, friends, and neighbours are able to provide sustained care to frail elderly Canadians. Using national survey data, we examined characteristics of the care networks of 1,104 seniors living with a long-term health problem. Care networks were found to vary considerably in size, relationship composition, gender composition, age composition, and proximity, and these network characteristics were found to help explain variations in the types and amounts of care received. As a result, network characteristics that might place seniors at risk of receiving inadequate care (including small size and higher proportions of non-kin, male, and geographically distant members) were identified. These risk factors appear to be poorly reflected in most existing policy.

Les différences liées à la spécificité des genres dans la prise en charge d'un proche fragilisé

The goal of this study is to describe gender-specific care situations based on interviews and case studies with key caregivers. Eight main themes emerged; namely, the action of taking a certain degree of additional responsibility, the perception of the process of illness, the care received from the formal and informal networks, the effects of assuming care on the male or female caregiver's social life, the quality of care given, the caregiver's own health, the costs associated with caregiving and the survival strategies adopted by male and female caregivers. Recommendations were proposed by interviewees and the findings point to the conclusion that changes to the health and social services network have affected women and men informal caregivers. Women enjoyed limited informal support, and it would appear that informal caregiving has consequences that affect the health, mental well-being, social life, and economic autonomy of women. These case studies will contribute to a systematic gender-based analysis during the development of programs and policies directed towards formal and informal caregivers.

Gender as a predictor of burden and psychological distress of elderly husbands and wives of cancer patients

The aim of the study is to explore whether gender is a cause of differences in the perception of burden on the part of 39 elderly wife caregivers and 21 elderly husband caregivers of cancer patients. The patients were being treated at an oncological medical center in northern Israel. At the time of interview the patients had no evidence of the disease. Stepwise regression analysis indicated that caregiver gender (i.e., husbands) and age, as well as the patient's psychological distress, predicted greater burden, although gender did not predict greater psychological distress.

The influence of the cardiac surgery patient's sex and age on care-giving received

Care-giving research has predominantly focused on the care-givers of those with long-term illness and the elderly. Little attention has been given to examining care-giving from the perspective of the person receiving the care, differentiating how the sex or age of the person may influence the care received, or examining care-giving in the context of shorter term situations where the patient is expected to recover. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of the informal care-givers of cardiac surgery patients from three hospitals in one Canadian province and the effect of patient characteristics (sex, age) on their experience of receiving that care. A prospective, non-randomized design, was used to examine the short-term recovery from cardiac surgery of 120 subjects (60 men, 60 women). Patients were interviewed preoperatively and then at monthly intervals through the third postoperative month. The findings from this study suggest that the patterns of informal care-giving noted in the chronic care literature are also present in the short-term care of post-surgical cardiac patients. The burden of care-giving continues to rest predominantly on women. Female patients relied on their spouses for help less frequently than did male patients and their care-givers were more frequently employed outside the home and in lower status jobs than were the care-givers of male patients. 30% of care-givers were reported to have a health problem of their own to manage while caring for the recovering patient. Patients who were male or who were < 65 years of age had higher social support scores than did patients who were female or who were > or = 65 years of age. These findings suggest that the cardiac patient's sex affects the availability of home-based care. In addition, care-givers may themselves be patients in need of care. Further research is needed to examine the receipt of home-based care-giving, particularly for female patients.