Observing Women Caregivers’ Everyday Experiences: New Ways of Understanding and Intervening

Abstract

This article discusses the practice implications of videographic research examining the everyday lived experiences of 5 women family caregivers of older adults with chronic illness. The women’s nonverbal expressions and gestures revealed how caregiving is accomplished and lived on a daily basis, in particular through emotion and body management, abnegation, and performance. The findings from this microethnographic study suggest that observing women caregivers’ everyday experiences can open new avenues for holistic intervention with this population. Observing nonverbal cues can offer a way for practitioners to better understand women caregivers’ realities, to question their practice, and to adapt their interventions accordingly.

KEYWORDS:

• caregiving
• social work practice
• qualitative
• women
• videography

Additional information

Funding

For doctoral funding that made this research possible, thank you to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the McGill University School of Social Work, and the Vieillissements, exclusions sociales et solidarities (VIES) research team.