The experience of caring for a loved one: a phenomenological study

The purpose of this research was to uncover the meaning of caring for an elderly relative. Nine middle-aged and elderly people volunteered to take part in audiorecorded interviews to describe their experience of caring for a loved one. The following structural definition emerged from the study: The meaning of caring for an elderly relative is surfacing poignant remembering while doggedly continuing with nurturant giving and confirmatory receiving, as swells of enjoyment merge with tides of sorrow amid uplifting togetherness and valleys of aloneness. Parse's theory of human becoming and van Kaam's operations for phenomenological analysis are applied. Implications for practice and research are discussed.