The Family Caregiver Role From the Perspective of Older Women Experiencing Poverty in a High-Income Country: A Qualitative Study.
Anabel Chica-Pérez, Matías Correa-Casado, Cayetano Fernández-Sola and 3 others
PMID 40371992WHAT IT FOUND
Older women caring for relatives in poverty relied mainly on daughters, granddaughters and neighbours, not formal services.
They described skipping food, losing dignity, and seeing care as a woman's duty, while feeling unsupported by health and social services.
Key findings
01Many participants said their main support came from relatives and neighbours, especially daughters who often left work to help.
02Many women said formal support was insufficient, including lack of information, caregiving skills, and equipment.
03They often put the care recipient's needs before their own, including going without food, and described caregiving as a woman's obligation.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included 17 women from two under-resourced communities in southeastern Spain, all Spanish and Caucasian, so it may not apply to other cultures or settings. Participants were recruited through an NGO and had to be cognitively unimpaired and living with the person they cared for, so caregivers with cognitive impairment or different living arrangements were not included. Eleven of the 31 invited women declined because of the care recipient's hospitalisation or lack of time, which may have selected for women with more available time. Each participant was interviewed once, with no focus groups or observation, so the study captures a single account rather than repeated experience.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by Universidad de Almería.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as proof that nurses can solve caregiver poverty or that a specific intervention works. The study interviewed 17 older women once and described their perceptions, not the effect of any service.