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Societal Narratives on Caregivers in Asia.

ABSTRACT: Although there has been an increase in awareness of the struggles experienced by caregivers, discourse on caregiving remains confined mostly to academia, policy circles or the family unit. There have been suggestions that public discourse on informal caregiving dwells overwhelmingly on the outsize toll it takes on the health of caregivers. However, few studies have examined societal narratives on caregivers-a gap our study aims to fill. We leveraged an online media database of 12 billion words collated from over 30 million articles to explore societal narratives on caregivers in six Asian countries. Computational linguistics and statistical analysis were applied to study the content of narratives on caregivers. The prevalence of societal narratives on caregivers was highest in Singapore-five times higher than Sri Lanka, which evidenced the lowest prevalence. Findings reveal that the inadequacies of institutional care as well as the need to train and empower caregivers are pressing issues that need to be prioritized on the policy agenda in Asia. Of broader significance, the diverse capabilities across Asia present opportunities for cross-country learning and capacity-building.

SUBMITTER: Ng R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8583461 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundThe transformative storytelling technique is an innovative top-down approach to narrative therapy that aims to provide building blocks for creating flourishing narratives for target groups or populations. This approach acts as a facilitator for implementing the human-centered design in developing digital self-help tools for larger samples or target groups.ObjectiveThis study applied the transformative storytelling technique, as a new approach in mental health, to develop empowering audio narratives for informal caregivers.MethodsA narrative inquiry was conducted with 17 informal caregivers (16 women and 1 man) who completed a semistructured interview, "Caregiver Life Story," acquiring information about the beginning of the role, rising action, and critical point of the role. The participants' ages ranged from 41 to 84 years, with all participants providing care for at least a 6-month period. This inquiry was guided by the transformative storytelling technique, and aimed to collect data relevant to creating fictional stories based on real-life themes.ResultsTwenty-five overall themes were distinguished across three a priori-set categories, providing narrative building blocks for the informal caregiver life stories. The final empowering caregiver life story was created as an example for this study, demonstrating the application of the transformative storytelling technique in an informal care context.ConclusionsThe creation of empowering stories for populations or target groups in mental health care requires a unified and guided approach that will follow clear guidelines and storytelling principles. The transformative storytelling technique is a first of its kind in the mental health context, representing an initial step in enabling and supporting the creation of meaningful stories and the development of relatable, but productive, narratives. Such narratives have the potential to serve across media and digital platforms for supporting and improving well-being, and potentially triggering self-change in the target group or population.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Statistics from South Africa show the world's highest HIV prevalence with an estimated seven million people living with the virus. Several studies have pointed to communication about sexuality between parents/caregivers and children as a protective factor. However, communication between generations has been described as problematic, especially due to discomfort in discussing sexual matters. The aim of this study was to explore how caregivers in a poor, rural part of South Africa talked about young people in general, their sexuality, and their lifestyle practices. A particular interest was directed towards central discourses in the caregivers' narratives and how these discourses were of importance for the caregivers to function as conversation partners for young people. METHODS:In this qualitative study convenience sampling was used to select and invite participants. Information was collected from nine one-on-one interviews conducted with caregivers from rural areas within South Africa. The interview guide included nine main questions and optional probing questions. Each interview took place in an uninterrupted setting of choice associated with the caregivers' home environment. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using discourse analysis. RESULTS:Interview narratives were characterized by three central discourses - demoralized youths in a changing society, prevailing risks and modernity and a generation gap. The youths were discursively constructed as a problematic group relating to specific prevailing risks such as early pregnancies, modern technologies, STI/HIV and contraceptives. The interview narratives illustrated that caregivers tried to impose their views of a respectable lifestyle in young people. At the same time caregivers expressed a morality of despair mirroring a generation gap which counteracted their ability to communicate with their children and grandchildren. CONCLUSIONS:The findings add to the body of earlier research illustrating that rural South African caregivers and their children/grandchildren hold different moral standards. The interview material reflected a 'clash' between generations relating to their differing perceptions of a desirable lifestyle. To overcome the generational gap, we recommend further research about how a well-founded national and community collaboration linked to school-based programs can support family participation in order to empower adults in their communication with young people.

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Societal Narratives on Caregivers in Asia.

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