Paying respect: Care of elderly parents by Chinese and Filipino American women

Abstract

Chinese and Filipino American women's caregiving for their elderly parents was explored. Patterns of care, sources of stress, and resources and strategies used in coping with the stress and providing care were investigated using a grounded‐theory methodology. Patterns of care included “paying respect” by “caring for” and “providing for” elderly parents. Sources of stress were caregiving demands, interpersonal relationships, conflict between traditional cultural expectations and what the caregivers could provide, and issues of control. Resources identified were primarily personal, familial, and cultural. Strategies used to cope with the stress included optimism, trust in religion, setting limits, and taking charge. The phenomenon of respect for elders described in this study is consistent with that described by Stern et al. (1980,1985). The satisfaction gained from paying respect contributed to the women's ability to integrate the caregiving role with other roles, congruent with Meleis's theory of role integration (Hall et al., 1992; Meleis, 1991; Meleis et al., 1989a, 1989b).