Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of managing both caring and farming among family caregivers of impaired elders in a small village. Ethnography was employed in data collection and analysis. Three modes of data collection were used: interviews of family caregivers (n=27) and also community members and health and welfare professionals; participant observation; and survey of community documents. The data were analyzed focusing on the managing strategies of caregivers and their motivations.
The findings were as follows:
(1) Caregivers used'incorporating strategies'to integrate both caregiving activities and farm work into their daily life.
(2) Two kinds of motivations influence caregivers' continuing engagement in both caregiving and farming. One set of significant motivations (negative motivations) reflected the context of life in a rural area;'internalizing of traditional values and norms'such as family caregiving,'following the principle of group in a rural communal society'to avoid social sanction and'accepting the difficult situation not to be able to continue farming'because of younger generation working outside the village and decreasing the supports from neighbors. The second set of positive and reinforcing motivations, were'affection for the elder','valuing farming as work worth doing'and'valuing caregivers'own acts' as evidence of their ability to continue caring and farming.
(3)'Rural family caregivers find the meaning of their reason for living in their own acts in managing to both care for impaired elders and farm'emerged as the major theme of this study. Underlying this theme is the value that caregivers placed in their independent acts. The theme refers not only to their adaptation to the actual situation, but also to seeking meaning for their life.
From these results, it was suggested that continuing to farm and providing care for family members are deeply embedded values. Caregivers accept traditional values and norms without an awareness of the social conditions which impose both caring and farming on them. And farming is very important in the lives of rural caregivers. Taking into account these perspectives, community health nursing activities to support rural family caregiving were discussed.
