Exploring the Motivations of Family Caregivers Caring for Older Persons in Urban Poor Accra, Ghana

ABSTRACT

There is a general paucity of studies on family caregivers’ motivations for providing care to older persons in the urban poor context in Ghana. This study seeks to explore family caregivers’ motivations for providing care to older persons in urban poor Accra, Ghana. A qualitative descriptive design was used and in-depth interviews were conducted with thirty-one family caregivers. The QSR NVivo 10 software was used to analyze the data thematically. We found that autonomous motivation inspired family caregivers to provide care. Empathy and affection intrinsically motivated some caregivers to provide care to their care recipients, while others were extrinsically motivated by filial responsibility, reciprocity, and obligation to provide care. These findings showed that family caregivers were autonomously motivated to provide care to older persons. We recommend the need for future studies to explore changes in family caregivers’ motivations to provide care over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Family caregiver
• autonomous motivation
• older persons
• urban poor
• Ghana

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all our participants and research assistants for making this study possible. We also thank Dr. Adriana A. E. Biney for her assistance during the drafting of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Ga language is one of the Kwa languages spoken among the Ga people in Accra, Ghana.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.