Caring for aged parents: Phenomenology and relationships
Lindsay J Paul
School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora VIC
PP: 207 - 219
Abstract
This paper reports on part of a phenomenological study designed to examine the existential nature of informal caring. The main concern of the study is the retrospective experiences of adult sons and daughters who have cared for their sick and dying parents, with a particular focus on the integration of caring with the relationship between carer and parent.
A research method developed primarily from the existential philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, and adapted specifically for this particular project, is described. Five participants who had been primary carers of their parents were interviewed at times varying from 2 to 6 years after their parent's death. The interviews were of between 1 and 2 hours duration, and unstructured and conversational in style. Any material from these conversations which was connected in some way with the relationship between carer and is selected and summarised. The summaries are analysed and common areas identified. Two of these areas are examined, namely, the consolidation of the relationship and involvement at the death of the parent.
Finally, these analyses, together with extracts from literary sources and the author's written reflections on her own caring experience have been integrated to form a phenomenological description of caring in this particular context.
Keywords
qualitative research, care, informal caring, phenomenology, parents, ageing, dying, relationships
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