Religious and Spiritual Dimensions of the Vietnamese Dementia Caregiving Experience

• Published in: Hallym international journal of aging Vol. 10; no. 2; p. 139
• Main Authors: Hinton, Ladson, Tran, Jane Nhauyen, Tran, Cindy, Hinton, Devon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.01.2008
• ISSN: 1535-6523
• DOI: 10.2190/HA.10.2.e

This paper focuses on the role of religion and spirituality in dementia caregiving among Vietnamese refugee families. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with nine Vietnamese caregivers of persons with dementia, then tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for emergent themes. Caregivers related their spirituality/religion to three aspects of caregiving: (1) their own suffering, (2) their motivations for providing care, and (3) their understanding of the nature of the illness. Key terms or idioms were used to articulate spiritual/religious dimensions of the caregivers' experience, which included sacrifice, compassion, karma, blessings, grace and peace of mind. In their narratives, the caregivers often combined multiple strands of different religions and/or spiritualities: Animism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Catholicism. Case studies are presented to illustrate the relationship between religion/spirituality and the domains of caregiving. These findings have relevance for psychotherapeutic interventions with ethnically diverse populations.