Culturally competent social work practice with Chinese and Korean family caregivers of older adults: Perspectives from the field

ABSTRACT

Caregiver programs provide crucial services that reduce caregiver stress, improve family quality of life, and alleviate strain on health so that caregiving can be sustained. Although there are resources and supports available, the effectiveness of services used by Chinese and Korean family caregivers’ has yet to be examined. Moreover, not much is known about which services are most effective to strengthen coping skills among Chinese and Korean family caregivers. It is deemed important when investigating program efficacy to garner information from the perspective of direct-service professionals; it is also important to determine if such programs could be improved by tailoring services to address cultural competency. To gather crucial information, a focus group was formed to elicit the professional perspective of social workers who worked with Chinese and Korean family caregivers during the years 2014–2015. Semistructured questions were asked and the discussion was documented. Implications on facilitating caregiver programs to develop and implement effective and culturally sensitive services will be discussed.