Role of religious/spiritual beliefs and practices among Latino family caregivers of Mexican descent

2013

Yumi Shirai
[email protected]
520-621-9427

To obtain a more nuanced, emic look at the practice, role, and perceived benefits of religion/spirituality among Latino caregivers than has been possible with forced-choice measures, we posed an open-ended survey question to informal caregivers of Mexican descent. Fifty-eight caregivers described how their spiritual beliefs and practices have been important or meaningful in their role as a caregiver. Inductive thematic analyses conducted by a bilingual-bicultural coder (and confirmed by a secondary coder) yielded six thematic categories (e.g., Methods of Religious or Spiritual Practice, Timing of Practices, Beliefs/Spiritual Perspective as Related to Providing Care, How Religious/Spiritual Beliefs and Practices Help Caregiving). Findings clarify why religious/spiritual involvement seems to have a consistently beneficial effect for Latino caregivers.

aging, spiritual beliefs, mexican, caregiver

Peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals Published/In Press

Professionals

[email protected]

N/A