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Spirituality in Multicultural Caregivers of Persons with Dementia

Rush University College of Nursing and Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Chicago

Olimpia Paun

Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago

Mary Horton Elliott

Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago

This qualitative study examined spirituality in a multicultural group of caregivers of persons with dementia. The work was based upon earlier focus groups that centered on general outreach to African-American caregivers. While initial questions focused on caregiving experiences, service needs, and barriers to service use, caregivers spontaneously shared their experiences concerning spirituality and caregiving. In an effort to respond to these comments and embrace a more expanded outreach approach, successive focus groups specifically addressed questions about spirituality and caregiving. Using semi-structured questionnaires, three focus groups with existing community-based groups were conducted (N = 43). Four major categories emerged from the data: teachers of the faith; the role of faith in one's life; benefits of spirituality; and the caregiver, the care-receiver and the caregiving experience. These major categories were integrated into a spiritual model for the caregiver and the caregiving experience. Findings suggest that community-based outreach approaches should embrace an appreciation for caregivers' faith development, expressions, and experiences of spirituality; that clinical interventions should be more proactive in responding to spiritual/religious issues; and that future research efforts should refine methods and approaches for a more integrated scientific basis that further examines relationships between spirituality and mental and physical health outcomes.

Key Words: African-American • focus groups • outreach • religiosity

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