Always One Step Behind: Husbands’ Narratives about Taking Care of their Demented Wives

Abstract

Based on an analysis of extracts from 11 free-form written texts and 13 focused interviews with Finnish husbands who had given care to their demented wives, this study was aimed at finding out how husbands signify their action as spousal caregivers. The data were approached qualitatively from a social constructionistic point of view. Husbands’ written material described their action of caregiving mainly in a passive voice that echoed duty and responsive agency. Analysis of the interview talk revealed a wider spectrum of voices and more agentive talk about caregiving. The results of the study challenge interpretations of men as either ineffective or capable caregivers and highlight, instead, the contextual nature of the way that men construct their agencies, depending upon the purposes and audiences of their narration.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Albert, S.M. (1990). The dependent elderly, home health care, and strategies of household adaptation. In J.F. Gubrium and A. Sankar (Eds.), The home care experience. Ethnography and policy, pp. 19–36. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications .

Barker, C. and Galasiñski, D. (2001). Cultural studies and discourse analysis. A dialogue on language and identity. London, Thousands Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications .

Barusch, A.S. and Spaid, W.M. (1989). Gender differences in caregiving: Why do wives report greater burden? The Gerontologist, 29, 667–676 .

Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality – treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books .

Brewer, L. (2001). Gender socialization and the cultural construction of elder caregivers . Journal of Aging Studies, 15, 217–235 .

Brody, E. (1981). Women in the middle and family help to older people . The Gerontologist, 21, 450–471 .

Connell, R.W. (1992). A very straight gay: Masculinity, homosexual experience, and the dynamics of gender . American Sociological Review, 57, 735–751 .

Farran, C.J., Keane-Hagerty, E., Salloway, S., Kupferer, S. and Wilken, C.S. (1991). Finding meaning: An alternative paradigm for Alzheimer’s disease family caregivers . The Gerontologist, 31, 483–489 .

Fitting, M., Rabins, P., Lucas, M.S. and Eastham, J. (1986). Caregivers for dementia patients: A comparison of husbands and wives . The Gerontologist, 26, 248–252 .

10.

Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society. Cambridge: Polity Press .

11.

Gubrium, J.F. (1991). The mosaic of care. Frail elderly and their families in the real world. US: Springer Publishing .

12.

Gubrium, J.F. and Sankar, A., Eds. (1990). The home care experience. Ethnography and policy. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications .

13.

Harris, P.B. (1993). The misunderstood caregiver? A qualitative study of the male caregivers of Alzheimers’s disease victims . The Gerontologist, 33, 551–556 .

14.

Herek, G.M. (1987). On heterosexual masculinity: Some psychical consequences of the social construction of gender and sexuality. In M.S. Kimmel (Ed.), Changing men. New directions in research on men and masculinity, pp. 68–82. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications .

15.

Holstein, J.A. and Gubrium, J.F. (1995). The active interview. Qualitative research methods, vol. 37. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications .

16.

Karp, D.A. and Watts-Roy, D. (1999). Bearing responsibility: How caregivers to the mentally ill assess their obligations . health:, 4(3), 469–491 .

17.

Kirsi, T. (2000). Naisen tehtävä. Aviovaimot dementiapotilaan omaishoitajina (A woman’s lot. Wives as caregivers to their demented husbands) . Gerontologia, 14, 229–240 .

18.

Kirsi, T., Hervonen, A. and Jylhä, M. (2000). A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Husbands as caregivers to their demented wives: A discourse analytic approach . Journal of Aging Studies, 14, 153–169 .

19.

Lyman, K.A. (1989). Bringing the social back in: A critique of the biomedicalization of dementia . The Gerontologist, 29, 597–605 .

20.

Miller, B. and Cafasso, L. (1992). Gender differences in caregiving: Fact or artefact? The Gerontologist, 32, 498–507 .

21.

Noddings, N. (1984). Caring. A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkley & Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press .

22.

Parsons, K. (1997). The male experience of caregiving for a family member with Alzheimer’s disease . Qualitative Health Research, 7, 391–405 .

23.

Pruchno, R.A. and Resch, N.L. (1989). Husbands and wives as caregivers. Antecedents of depression and burden . The Gerontologist, 29, 159–165 .

24.

Russell, R. (2001). In sickness and in health: A qualitative study of elderly men who care for wives with dementia . Journal of Aging Studies, 15, 351–367 .

25.

Schwalbe, M.L. and Wolkomir, M. (2002). Interviewing men. In J.F. Gubrium and J.A. Holstein (Eds.), Handbook of interview research. Context and method, pp. 203–219. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications .

26.

Twigg, J. 2000. Carework as a form of bodywork . Ageing and Society, 20, 389–411 .

27.

Zarit, S.H. (1989). Do we need another stress and caregiving study? The Gerontologist, 29, 147–148 .