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Beyond Just Giving Care: Exploring the Role of Culture in Chinese American Personal Care Aides’ Work

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Abstract

As the number of older Chinese Americans with immigration background increases, there is a growing need for Chinese American personal care aides (CA-PCAs) to assist them with aging at home by providing culturally congruent and linguistically competent service. However, little is known about how culture factors into the caregiving process and influences CA-PCAs’ well-being. In this study, two focus groups were conducted with ten immigrant CA-PCAs and conventional content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. Seven cultural themes were identified, including guanxi (relationship), renqing (favor), mianzi/lian (face), hierarchy and authority, communication, harmony, and elder respect. By drawing attention to the idiosyncratic cultural landscape and entailed challenges faced by underrepresented CA-PCAs, the investigators corroborate the importance of cultural sensitivity for working with ethnic minority non-familial caregivers. The findings shed light on cultural factors that can be targeted by culturally sensitive direct practices, programs, and policies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Maryalice Jordan-Marsh, PhD, FAAN, for constructive criticism of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, 669 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, USA

    Jinli Wu, Mandong Liu & Iris Chi

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

    Jinli Wu

  3. Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging, University of Southern California, Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

    Mandong Liu & Iris Chi

  4. Leonard David School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

    Yiting Ouyang

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  1. Jinli Wu
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Correspondence to Jinli Wu.

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Wu, J., Liu, M., Ouyang, Y. et al. Beyond Just Giving Care: Exploring the Role of Culture in Chinese American Personal Care Aides’ Work. J Cross Cult Gerontol 35, 255–272 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-020-09404-w

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