Understanding Family Caregivers’ Experiences With Live-in Migrant Care Workers in Dementia Care: Challenges and Perspectives From a Qualitative Study in Taiwan
Live-in migrant care workers constitute a vital labor force in home-based eldercare in Taiwan; where demographic changes have heightened the demand for such assistant. Despite this, qualitative research exploring the experiences of family caregivers who employ these workers for relatives with dement...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2025-07-01
|
| Series: | Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580251355826 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849427714326396928 |
|---|---|
| author | Chia-Ming Yen PhD |
| author_facet | Chia-Ming Yen PhD |
| author_sort | Chia-Ming Yen PhD |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Live-in migrant care workers constitute a vital labor force in home-based eldercare in Taiwan; where demographic changes have heightened the demand for such assistant. Despite this, qualitative research exploring the experiences of family caregivers who employ these workers for relatives with dementia remains scarce in the Taiwanese context. This qualitative study aimed to investigate the motivations behind families’ decisions to hire migrant workers for home-based dementia care within Taiwan, as well as to assess the associated benefits and challenges they encounter. In-depth interviews were conducted with 4 family caregivers, aged between 52 and 63 years, who had hired live-in migrant care workers between April and August 2022. The transcripts from these interviews were analyzed thematically to derive insights from the findings. The results revealed that family caregivers in Taiwan opted to hire migrant workers for dementia care following a thorough evaluation of their personal circumstances and available resources. Live-in migrant care workers acted as surrogate caregivers, enabling family members to alleviate their daily caregiving burden, improve their emotional well-being, and sustain their personal lives. However, family caregivers faced several challenges, including resistance from dementia-affected relatives toward migrant workers, difficulties in recruiting care workers amidst fluctuating external conditions, and instances of migrant care workers displaying irresponsibility or lacking essential knowledge and skills related to dementia care. Notably, as family caregivers’ understanding of dementia evolved, they recognized the critical need to utilize public long-term care services to bolster the dementia-related knowledge and skills of their migrant employees. The study suggests implementing additional dementia-specific training programs tailored for both family caregivers and live-in migrant care workers in Taiwan. Such initiatives would enhance caregiving knowledge and competencies, ultimately improving the quality of life for both caregivers and care recipients. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a7d261b18b834655ba314d7fb804c695 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0046-9580 1945-7243 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing |
| spelling | doaj-art-a7d261b18b834655ba314d7fb804c6952025-08-20T03:28:55ZengSAGE PublishingInquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing0046-95801945-72432025-07-016210.1177/00469580251355826Understanding Family Caregivers’ Experiences With Live-in Migrant Care Workers in Dementia Care: Challenges and Perspectives From a Qualitative Study in TaiwanChia-Ming Yen PhD0Ph.D Program for Aging, China Medical University, Taichung, R.O.C. TaiwanLive-in migrant care workers constitute a vital labor force in home-based eldercare in Taiwan; where demographic changes have heightened the demand for such assistant. Despite this, qualitative research exploring the experiences of family caregivers who employ these workers for relatives with dementia remains scarce in the Taiwanese context. This qualitative study aimed to investigate the motivations behind families’ decisions to hire migrant workers for home-based dementia care within Taiwan, as well as to assess the associated benefits and challenges they encounter. In-depth interviews were conducted with 4 family caregivers, aged between 52 and 63 years, who had hired live-in migrant care workers between April and August 2022. The transcripts from these interviews were analyzed thematically to derive insights from the findings. The results revealed that family caregivers in Taiwan opted to hire migrant workers for dementia care following a thorough evaluation of their personal circumstances and available resources. Live-in migrant care workers acted as surrogate caregivers, enabling family members to alleviate their daily caregiving burden, improve their emotional well-being, and sustain their personal lives. However, family caregivers faced several challenges, including resistance from dementia-affected relatives toward migrant workers, difficulties in recruiting care workers amidst fluctuating external conditions, and instances of migrant care workers displaying irresponsibility or lacking essential knowledge and skills related to dementia care. Notably, as family caregivers’ understanding of dementia evolved, they recognized the critical need to utilize public long-term care services to bolster the dementia-related knowledge and skills of their migrant employees. The study suggests implementing additional dementia-specific training programs tailored for both family caregivers and live-in migrant care workers in Taiwan. Such initiatives would enhance caregiving knowledge and competencies, ultimately improving the quality of life for both caregivers and care recipients.https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580251355826 |
| spellingShingle | Chia-Ming Yen PhD Understanding Family Caregivers’ Experiences With Live-in Migrant Care Workers in Dementia Care: Challenges and Perspectives From a Qualitative Study in Taiwan Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing |
| title | Understanding Family Caregivers’ Experiences With Live-in Migrant Care Workers in Dementia Care: Challenges and Perspectives From a Qualitative Study in Taiwan |
| title_full | Understanding Family Caregivers’ Experiences With Live-in Migrant Care Workers in Dementia Care: Challenges and Perspectives From a Qualitative Study in Taiwan |
| title_fullStr | Understanding Family Caregivers’ Experiences With Live-in Migrant Care Workers in Dementia Care: Challenges and Perspectives From a Qualitative Study in Taiwan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Understanding Family Caregivers’ Experiences With Live-in Migrant Care Workers in Dementia Care: Challenges and Perspectives From a Qualitative Study in Taiwan |
| title_short | Understanding Family Caregivers’ Experiences With Live-in Migrant Care Workers in Dementia Care: Challenges and Perspectives From a Qualitative Study in Taiwan |
| title_sort | understanding family caregivers experiences with live in migrant care workers in dementia care challenges and perspectives from a qualitative study in taiwan |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580251355826 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chiamingyenphd understandingfamilycaregiversexperienceswithliveinmigrantcareworkersindementiacarechallengesandperspectivesfromaqualitativestudyintaiwan |