Brothers’ Experiences Caring for a Sibling With Down Syndrome

Abstract

I used a phenomenological method to examine the caregiving experiences of Taiwanese men with their siblings with Down syndrome (DS). Four themes emerged after drawing on stories shared by 7 men: taking responsibility for the caregiving, adjusting to an unfamiliar caregiving role, and counting on help from women and reframing. The results of the study show that the Taiwanese brother caregivers were raised according to the cultural norm, because of which they accepted the caregiving responsibility, even though they had rarely been included in the early life of their sibling with DS. These brothers thus encountered chaos in the process of transferring into the role of main caregiver. Greater attention must be paid to the promotion of earlier involvement of brothers in the life of their sibling with DS, and the special challenges surrounding a brother giving care to a sister with DS.

Keywords

caregivers / caregiving China,Chinese culture Down syndrome families

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