Role Construction of Family Caregivers in the Home Care of the Elderly Living with Dementia - Acta Universitatis Sapientiae

Acta Univ. Sapientiae, Social Analysis, 14 (2024) 91–105

DOI: 10.47745/aussoc-2024-0006

Abstract. Our research examines the home care of elderly people living with dementia as a sociologically scrutinized behaviour.Our goal is to understand how elderly people with special needs living with dementia are cared for in the families that care for them.Our empirical research used a qualitative method to examine how caregivers interpret their role as caregivers within the framework of the given context during the emerging constraints that motivate their actions, determining the family division of labour and the situation and well-being of the elderly.In our micro-sociological research, we were able to monitor the care process constructed through the joint life history of the cared-for elderly and their family caregivers, the care motivations, burdens, and struggles that show the development of care within the family and reveal the deficiencies.

According to our results, the individual variability of home care for the elderly is explained by the family caregivers’ perception of care, their cultural background and social situation (tradition, health knowledge, material assets, nature of the relationship, etc.).

Keywords: demented elderly, social support, care, social constructionism