Abstract
This dissertation aimed to identify themes related to the personal experiences of African American Professional Women as Sandwich Generation Caregivers as they provided care to elders and children. Themes and associations were examined using a mixed design including quantitative and qualitative methodologies. A semi-structured interview and the 45-item Caregiver Well-being survey questionnaire (Tebb, 1995) were administered to 10 African American professional women who are sandwich generation caregivers. The age of the participants ranged between 43 and 58 with an average age of 49. Participants spent, on the average, 4.3 years engaged in caregiving activities. The survey questionnaire data was analyzed with respect to identification of demographic information, and descriptive statistics. Overall, the survey questionnaire results indicated that in general African American professional sandwich generation women caregivers reported a positive sense of well-being, and an overall ability to carry out their activities of daily living in addition to their other roles. However, when each participant's overall individual scores for each subscale were compared with the overall mean, the results indicated that four of the participants experienced a general sense of well-being, while the other six participants reported a negative experience with respect to well-being and ability to carry out their activities of daily living. The analysis of the interview data, which was obtained from a transcription and content analysis of the interviews, resulted in the identification of six themes relating to the caregiving experience. The themes included perceived benefits of caregiving, negative perceptions of caregiving, multi-generational influences within the African American context, the role of spirituality in caregiving, identification of needed services and supports for caregiving, and future expectations regarding caregiving. The interviews suggest that for these caregivers, the experience is perceived as positive, and that it is influenced by strong multi-generational and familial expectations within the African American context. Also, another positive perception of the caregiving experience is found in the cultural environment (African American multi-generational context) which provides for the continuation of values, beliefs, customs and the sharing of needed resources. However, when taken in the context of the questionnaire data, the positive experiences may be overrated. These results are further clarified in the context of the ecology of caregiving model in which care recipient characteristics are associated with caregiver characteristics. The caregiver characteristics mediate the concepts of well-being, activities of daily living and multi-generational support, which are further influenced by the caregiver's concept of spirituality. Future research should be expanded to explore other specific factors associated with sandwich generation caregiving such as depression, stress, and perceived quality of life.