Roles and Responsibilities of Family Home Caregivers for Elderly People in Qatar: Experiences and Challenges

Abstract

The family, as a social institution in Qatar, is the main care provider for its older adult members. In this paper we examine what caregivers do – their work practices – and the different roles and responsibilities that home caregivers perform when providing care for elderly persons in Qatar. The findings of this study were based from a larger study using qualitative descriptive design. This article demonstrates the work practices and main challenges that caregivers face while taking care of their elderly. We argue that a main source of stress for caregivers is the lack of formal services and supports geared towards individuals caring for their ageing loved ones; addressing this service gap would alleviate some of the demands associated with caregiving. The paper will present exemplars of caregivers taking care of their elderly relative. These exemplars are used to support the analysis which is clustered around identified related themes. The main findings regarding the challenges that caregivers face include: feelings of responsibility; dependency on caregiver; emotional care; social planning; problem solving; and environmental quality. All of the themes impacted the health of the caregivers and led to stress and burden on the life of the caregiver.