Donsky, Lauren Shirley (2021) Responsibility or Obligation? Exploring Factors Associated with Caregiving for Elderly Family Members. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Carers of elderly family members face a multitude of psychosocial hardships that impact their mental and physical wellbeing, as well as the mental and physical wellbeing of the care recipient. Prior research has identified the concepts of responsibility and obligation as motivational factors in caregivers linked to either positive or negative outcomes. To date these terms have been used interchangeably in the literature yet there is evidence that they may be sufficiently different concepts that warrant exploration. A qualitative study was conducted with the aim of exploring differences between how caregivers of elderly family members experienced the motivating factors of responsibility and obligation. A critical realism philosophical worldview framed the research in the context of the Updated Sociocultural Stress and Coping Model. Six carers of elderly family members were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews that were then analysed using thematic analysis. Choice and Historical Relationship emerged as major themes. Carers who experienced caregiving as a choice or who reported having a loving historical relationship with the care recipient described the caregiving experience to be generally positive. Those who reported having no choice or who reported having a troublesome historical relationship with the care recipient described the caregiving experience to be generally negative. Findings from the study suggest future research is required to clearly define the themes of responsibility and obligation so the individual effects of these separate factors on the experiences of family caregivers can be explored.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Bob Knight; Sonya Winterbotham |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Jul 2025 04:39 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Jul 2025 04:39 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | caregiver ; elderly ; family ; responsibility ; obligation |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52282 |
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