Abstract
There is a growing body of research on resilience in family carers of people with dementia, but carers' voices are noticeably absent from it. The aim of this study was to explore carers' definitions of resilience and their opinions on the factors associated with resilience. Twenty-one in-depth interviews were conducted in Australia with people who were currently, or had previously been, caring for a family member with dementia. Transcripts were analysed thematically and three themes emerged: the presence of resilience, the path to resilience, and characteristics of the resilient carer. Although carers struggled to define resilience, the vast majority considered themselves resilient. Carers identified a range of traits, values, environments, resources, and behaviours associated with resilience, but there was no consensus on the relative importance or causal nature of these factors. Carers also considered resilience to be domain-and context-specific, but did not agree on whether resilience was a trait or a process. These findings highlight both the importance of including carers' voices in resilience research and the limitations of the extant literature. There is much to be done to develop a field of carer resilience research that is theoretically sound, methodologically rigorous, and reflects the lived experience of carers. A model is provided to prompt future research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 57 |
| Journal | Behavioral Sciences |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This study was funded by an Early Career Researcher Grant from the Griffith University Centre for Health Practice Innovation. Siobhan T. O'Dwyer held a Dementia Collaborative Research Centres Career Development Fellowship at Griffith University, Australia, when the data for this study was collected and the initial analyses were conducted. When the final analyses were conducted and the manuscript was prepared, Siobhan T. O'Dwyer was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health. The authors would like to acknowledge Candice Loopstra's assistance in developing the interview protocol and preparing the risk assessment and risk response components of the protocol.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: This study was funded by an Early Career Researcher Grant from the Griffith University Centre for Health Practice Innovation. Siobhan T. O’Dwyer held a Dementia Collaborative Research Centres Career Development Fellowship at Griffith University, Australia, when the data for this study was collected and the initial analyses were conducted. When the final analyses were conducted and the manuscript was prepared, Siobhan T. O’Dwyer was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (PenCLAHRC). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health. The authors would like to acknowledge Candice Loopstra’s assistance in developing the interview protocol and preparing the risk assessment and risk response components of the protocol.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
- Acceptance
- Adversity
- Caregivers
- Dementia
- Resilience
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Development
- Genetics
- General Psychology
- Behavioral Neuroscience