Stress and Grief Among Family Caregivers of Older Adults With Cancer: A Multicultural Comparison From Hawai‘i

Abstract

In this study the authors investigated stress, anticipatory mourning, and cultural practices among family caregivers from independent and interdependent cultural groups. Focus groups were used to collect data from 56 caregivers providing care to family members with terminal cancer, representing four cultural groups in Hawai‘i: Chinese, European Americans, Japanese, and Native Hawaiians. Participants from all four cultural groups identified similar stressors and agreed that support groups helped them cope with the stresses and sadness they were experiencing and differed in culturally based motivations for caregiving, perceived roles, and processing of grief. The findings of this study indicated a need for additional conceptual models of the caregiving trajectory and more culturally sensitive strategies, particularly indirect methods, for working with diverse populations of caregivers.

KEYWORDS:

• anticipatory mourning
• caregiver stress
• caregivers
• cultural values
• informal caregiving
• palliative care

Acknowledgments

This study was carried out with the support of the Cancer Research Center of Hawai‘i, with a Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award (NCI-R25).