Women’s experiences caring for their husbands’ siblings with developmental disabilities

Abstract

A phenomenological method was used in this study to examine the experiences of women caring for the husband’s sibling with developmental disabilities (DDs) with the aim of establishing how and why they came to care and continued to care for them. Three themes emerged after drawing on stories shared by seven women: for the sake of my husband, powerlessness, and trade-off between cost and rewards. The findings of this study show that Taiwanese women accept the cultural norms, thus accepting the caregiving responsibility. Reciprocity did not help determine whether women started caring for the husband’s sibling with DD. However, when an imbalance in reciprocity is present, women experience negative emotions that often result in tension within the family. Positive factors contributed by the husband and parents-in-law can facilitate the work of caregivers by ameliorating physical pain and psychological distress that can occur during the caregiving process.