Immigrant Caregivers: The Double Burden Experience of Immigrants Caring for a Family Member With Severe Mental Illness

The aim of this study is to examine the factors that shape the burden experience among immigrants caring for a family member with severe mental illness. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 immigrant caregivers from the former Soviet Union in Israel. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The participants described their burden as an accumulation of economic, linguistic, social, emotional, and health-related adversities that negatively affect their coping and adaptation on the personal and familial level. The results showed that the objective and subjective burdens they experience include dimensions pertaining to their role as family caregivers, dimensions pertaining to 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”—that can help promote the design of research, interventions, and policies suited to the multiple challenges of immigrant caregivers.