Finding Meaning: An Alternative Paradigm for Alzheimer's Disease Family Caregivers

Abstract

Theoretical formulations of stress and coping, family systems, crisis intervention, and loss and grief have inadequately explained how persons might grow and find meaning through their caregiving experiences. An existential theoretical framework guided the data interpretation in a qualitative study of 94 dementia family caregivers. Results suggest that an existential framework provides an alternative paradigm for understanding the caregiving experience.