Aging & Society: Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Caregiving often requires caregivers to acquire specialized knowledge unique to the needs of the individual they are caring for, to meet with healthcare professionals at different stages of the caregiving process, and to gain unique skills often associated with the work of healthcare professionals (Leiter et al, 2004). This paper will focus on the stresses and burdens of caregiving and the different coping strategies that caregivers use to cope with the demands of caregiving. This research gap is problematic since reports suggest that there are problems in older persons’ care in Qatar and the country is considered as one of the fastest aging countries in the Middle East (Saxena, 2008, ESCWA, 2013). This paper focuses on the stresses of caregiving and more specifically, the antecedents to stress (stressors) and the burdens (stressor-outcomes or stress) reported by the participants linked to their caregiving experiences. The paper will explain the coping strategies that the caregivers implemented to overcome the stresses that they experienced and the positives of caregiving. The paper will end with a way forward by discussing policy interventions and implications. Qualitative methodology was utilised to explore and gain a better understanding of home caregivers in Qatar. Twenty-two in-depth interviews were conducted with Qatari and non-Qatari family member caregivers aging in range from twenty to fifty years. The findings reported in this paper focus on the different stressors and coping strategies that caregivers implemented. Some of the findings related to stresses were: isolation, financial stresses, anger, guilt, frustration, formal support, and others.