Experiencing Control in Caregiving

Purpose: To describe the experience of control as perceived by family caregivers who care for relatives with dementia to determine how caregivers manage care at home. The ability to manage care effectively at home is important because of the rise in the number of family caregivers.

Design: Descriptive using secondary analysis of qualitative data. The sample was 21 family caregivers of relatives with dementia, 4 men and 17 women, from one medium-sized city in Canada.

Methods: Grounded-theory methods were used for the secondary analysis of data completed in 1997 from a previous 1995 study of caregivers.

Results: The experience of control was related to how caregivers managed or coped with their caregiving situations. The dimensions of control were characterized as either "maintaining control" or as "lacking control" with each dimension relating to caregivers' beliefs about caregiving.

Conclusions: Results of this study can help nurses intervene more effectively with family caregivers by recognizing how caregivers manage and whether they need assistance to continue to provide care. The proposed model is a starting point for further research on control and coping; it also provides direction for practice.