For Chinese, providing care to dependent elders is still a life-long filial obligation for adult children due to the influence of cultural traditions. Studies reported on family caregiving by Chinese adult children in the U.S., however have been mostly qualitative. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between caregivers' cultural traditions and their appraisals of family caregiving and health outcomes applying six steps of structural equation modeling. A five-latent hybrid theoretical model of Chinese adult children family caregiving was proposed based on three theoretical perspectives: social exchange theory, role theory, and stress-coping theory. Exchange theory was used to reflect the process of the interaction between the caregiver and the care receiver. Role theory covers the gap in social exchange theory to understand the appraisal of family caregiving role acquisition. Stress-coping theory was used to depict the overall family caregiving experience. A descriptive correlational design with a causal modeling approach was used to test the theoretical model with 137 Chinese adult children family caregivers in the U.S. Measures originally developed in English were translated to and validated in Chinese using strategies for linguistic equivalence including translation, back-translation, multilingual technique, and a review panel. LISREL 8.7 Window version was used for model testing. Findings suggest the five-latent hybrid theoretical model fitted reasonable well with the data, as indicated by Chi-square test (£q2 (29), n=137)=25.86, p=.63, relative chi-square ratio (£q2 / df)=.91, CFI=.99, GFI=.96, AGFI=.93, SRMR=.00, and RMSEA=.00. The model shows that caregivers' cultural traditions play a significant role in shaping their appraisals of family caregiving and their health, both directly and indirectly. Awareness of clients' cultural beliefs is vital to provide culturally congruent, meaningful, and respectful nursing care.
Session #1205 - Family Caregiving
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)