Transitions in men's caring identities: experiences from home-based care to nursing home placement | Carer Research and Knowledge Exchange Network (CAREN)
Design. A qualitative constructivist approach was adopted for this study.
Participants. Data consists of interviews with seven men that have been informal carers and experienced the placement of their wife in a nursing home.
Methods. Interviews were analysed with a constructivist approach.
Results. The results indicate that men go through two transitions in their gender identity during the caregiving process and placement. From the mutual loving relationship of being a loving husband, the social responsibility of daily care of their wives changes the situation into that of being a caring husband, and finally with the move to a nursing home there is a transition from intimate care to a relationship based on friendship.
Conclusions. The results show that older caregiving men undergo a process involving a reconstruction of gender identity. To formally recognize men’s caring activities and to make them sustainable, we believe that men in an informal caring relationship need support.
Relevance to clinical practice. Nurses need to recognize the identity struggles resulting in sadness and suffering that are related to changes in men’s lives during the caregiving process. Understanding the dynamics and changes that occur when men take on a caring task is important for the development of their role as carers.
Caring gender informal care nursing home