Bearing Responsibility: How Caregivers to the Mentally Ill Assess Their Obligations

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Abstract
Based on 50 in-depth interviews, this article describes how family caregivers to a spouse, parent, child, or sibling suffering from depression, manic-depression, or schizophrenia negotiate their involvement with the ill person. The central research question asks: ‘what features of the situation do family members take into account as they try to operationalize boundaries of obligation between themselves and the mentally ill person in their lives?’ Data analysis of the joint experience of caregivers and family members reveals four interpretive junctures that mark transitions in the way caregivers assess their obligations. They are: hoping and learning, revising expectations, assessing responsibility, and preserving oneself. These categories capture clear regularities in the way respondents re-interpret their obligations to care over time. Our analysis suggests the need for a research agenda that looks more closely at how negotiations between caregivers and sick family members are mediated by their gender and status within the family.