להיות מהגר -מטפ ל: חוו י ית הנטל ש ל יוצאי ברית המועצות לשעבר המטפלים בבן משפחה עם מחלת נפש קש ה.

To be an immigrant caregiver: the burden experience of immigrants from the former Soviet Union caring for a family member with severe mental illness.

SOVIET Union; ISRAEL

Family caregivers who care for relatives with severe mental illness (SMI) experience high degrees of stress and burden in their daily lives. Immigrant caregivers, who care for a family member with SMI and simultaneously cope with cross-cultural transition, are exposed to multiple stressors. However, little is known about how immigrant caregivers experience this burden and what its long-term implications are for their personal and family lives. This qualitative study aims to examine the factors that shape the burden experience among former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants in Israel who care for a family member with SMI. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 FSU immigrant caregivers. The interviews were analyzed by using categorial content analysis. The participants described their burden as an accumulation of economic, linguistic, cultural, social, emotional, and health-related adversities that negatively affect their coping and adaptation on the personal and familial levels. The findings showed that the objective and subjective burdens they experience include dimensions pertaining to their role as family caregivers, their immigrant status, and the circular interaction between these two, which intensifies the overall experience of burden. The study proposes a new term – “the double adaptation burden”. This term helps to deepen an understanding of immigrant caregivers’ experience within their unique context, identify high-risk groups among them, and promote interventions and social policies that better suit their needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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