Family caregiver respite and leisure: a feminist perspective

Large numbers of family members, particularly women, find themselves in the stressful roles of caring for their frail elders with dementia. Although caregiver respite is seen as one way to mitigate the negative consequences of caregiving, many caregivers are reluctant to use services which offer them respite opportunities. By focusing on the similarities between respite and leisure experiences from a feminist perspective, this caregiver hesitancy will be explored. Interpreting the stories of eight women caregivers participating in a qualitative study which examined the experience of respite for family caregivers of persons with dementia, convergence between the experiences of leisure and of respite occur in at least four areas. These included: the experience of freedom, the getting away from obligatory routine, the pursuit of personally satisfying activities, and both as an 'attitude of the mind'.