The Importance of Reciprocity for Female Caregivers in a Super-Aged Society: A Qualitative Journalistic Approach

Abstract

As Japan is facing a super-aged society, Japanese women find themselves on the front line as traditional family caregivers. Our aim was to describe the observations and thoughts of one Japanese woman's experience of living with her elderly parents in the suburbs of Tokyo. One open-ended interview was performed and analyzed using content analysis with a methodological departure in qualitative journalistic interviewing. The case was a single woman in her late 40s living with her aged parents. Reciprocity was identified as the glue holding the joy and burdens of the role of caregiving for elderly parents. Moreover, gender was identified as a motivator for reciprocity from a macro to a micro level in a super-aged society.