Resilience in Wives Caring for Elderly Stroke Patient

Abstract

This study focused on the resilience of wives looking after their elderly husbands affected by stroke, who were living at home as a couple with no other family members. The research used qualitative descriptive methods. Data collection involved participant observation and interviews. Specifically, the researcher spent time with the care provider, visiting their home several times. The participants were wives from their late 60s to early 80s who had been looking after their stroke-affected husbands for 3–5 years. The study found that these wife’s resilience: confronting their despair at the possibility of losing their husband; returning to their normal pace of life; feeling unable to care for him alone due to his injuries; wanting the husband when the he was fine; getting absorbed in his care; feeling strongly responsible for his care; rousing their own spirits in the face of limitations; resignation at the solo battle of caregiving; and keeping calm by his demands.

For these wife’s, resilience was a process of coordinating their personal strength to endure hardship in their relationships with others, while simultaneously regaining their personal authenticity. For this reason, resilience also accompanied risks, as these wife attempted to continue caregiving despite the limitations.