Open AccessA Discourse Analysis: One Caregiver’s Voice in End-of-Life Care
Author(s) -
Erin KittLewis,
Susan Strauss,
Janice Penrod
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
qualitative health research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.303
H-Index - 113
eISSN - 1552-7557
pISSN - 1049-7323
DOI - 10.1177/1049732317728916
Subject(s) - perception , psychology , workforce , wife , set (abstract data type) , family caregivers , end of life care , caregiver burden , discourse analysis , nursing , medicine , palliative care , linguistics , dementia , disease , pathology , neuroscience , political science , computer science , law , economics , philosophy , programming language , economic growth
Informal family caregivers make a significant contribution to the U.S. health care system, and the need for caregivers will likely increase. Gaining deeper insights into the caregiver experience will provide essential knowledge needed to support the future caregiver workforce delivering care. Discourse analysis is a viable approach in analyzing textual caregiver data that focuses on the end-of-life caregiving experience. The purpose of this study was to conduct an in-depth discourse analytic examination of 13 hours of caregiver interview data, which reveal the multiplicity of shifting stances and perceptions of one caregiver in the midst of end-of-life care, specifically with regard to his perceptions of self (caregiver) and other (care recipient). By isolating a specific but limited set of reference terms used throughout the discourse, we gained systematic glimpses into the mind and perceptions of this single caregiver in relation to his role as caregiver for his terminally ill wife.