Family conflict and future concerns: Opportunities for social workers to better support Chinese immigrant caregiver employees

Chinese Immigrant Caregivers: Understanding Their Unmet Needs and the Co-Design of an mHealth App

BACKGROUND

Immigrant caregivers support the aging population, yet their own needs are often neglected. Mobile technology-facilitated interventions can promote caregiver health by providing easy access to self-care materials.

OBJECTIVE

This study employed a design thinking framework to examine Chinese immigrant caregivers' (CICs) unmet self-care needs and co-design an app for promoting self-care with CICs.

METHODS

Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in conceptual design and prototype co-design phases.

FINDINGS

Participants reported unmet self-care needs influenced by psychological and social barriers, immigrant status, and caregiving tasks. They expressed the need to learn to keep healthy boundaries with the care recipient and respond to emergencies. Gaining knowledge was the main benefit that drew CICs' interest in using the self-care app. However, potential barriers to use included issues of curriculum design, technology anxiety, limited free time, and caregiving burdens.

DISCUSSION

The co-design process appears to be beneficial in having participants voice both barriers and preferences.

Caregiving Across International Borders: a Systematic Review of Literature on Transnational Carer-Employees

In diaspora and transnational studies little is known about the experiences of transnational carer-employees (TCEs). TCEs provide unpaid/informal care across international borders to an adult family member, friend, or relative with disability and/or age-related needs, while also working in paid employment in the country of resettlement. The primary focus of this systematic review was to examine how cultural and historical elements of transnational caregiving influence the economic, social, and health/well-being of TCEs. This systematic review draws on quantitative and qualitative peer-reviewed literature on TCEs' experiences from Canada, the USA, or Australia between 1997 and 2017. In all, 16 articles that fulfilled the search inclusion criteria were selected. The articles were analyzed using content and thematic analysis. The review highlighted that transnational caregiving is a multi-dimensional phenomenon. There is a reciprocal relationship between adult children providing care to their parents and parents helping their children resettle in their new home. The findings suggest that TCEs provide practical, financial, and emotional care to their families abroad. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive systematic review of the experiences of TCEs. Increasingly complex immigration experiences of transnational families require innovative policy responses from a transnational and intersectionality lens. Immigrants need support to maintain solid transnational networks and simultaneously adapt to the country of resettlement. Employers can use the findings to support TCEs in balancing unpaid care across vast geographical distances while sustaining their economic and social well-being.

Caught in the middle: a thematic analysis of the experiences of Korean-Canadian caregiver-employees in the greater Toronto and Hamilton area

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study was to investigate the experiences of caregiver-employees (CEs) from the Korean-Canadian community in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

METHODS

Nine participants were recruited and invited to partake in data collection, which consisted of the completion of a sociodemographic questionnaire as well as a qualitative, semi-structured interview. The interview transcripts were thematically analyzed.

RESULT

The thematic analysis revealed four primary themes, each of which had three sub-themes. The four primary themes are:: (i) tensions, (ii) adaptations to the dual role of being a CE, (iii) coping mechanisms, and (iv) desired changes to the status quo.

CONCLUSION

The result of this study suggest that Korean-Canadian CEs, as a consequence of their position at the convergence of Korean and Western cultural values, would be best supported through the provision of culturally sensitive supports and greater workplace accommodation.

Elder abuse risk factors: Perceptions among older Chinese, Korean, Punjabi, and Tamil immigrants in Toronto

Objectives

Elder abuse is a significant concern worldwide. Several factors are reported to increase the risk for elder abuse, but little is known about which factors are most relevant to immigrant communities. This study explored perceptions of risk factors for elder abuse among older immigrants, which is the first step toward designing effective interventions.

Methods

This cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted between 2017 and 2019 in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada and involved a convenience sample (N = 173) of older women and men from Chinese, Korean, Punjabi, and Tamil immigrant communities. Participants completed a questionnaire about the frequency and importance of risk factors of elder abuse in their respective community. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data within each immigrant community and analysis of variance to compare the factor ratings across communities.

Results

The immigrant communities differed (p < .05) in their perception of the risk factors. Factors rated as frequent and important (x̅ > 2.0 – midpoint of the rating scale) were social isolation, financial dependence, and lack of knowledge of English for Korean; financial dependence, physical dependence, and emotional dependence for Chinese; lack of knowledge of English, emotional dependence, and physical dependence for Tamil; and social isolation for Punjabi.

Conclusion

The findings highlight the need for collaboration among public health and social services to work with immigrant communities in co-designing interventions to address these key risk factors and thereby reduce the risk of elder abuse.