A study of caring for the elderly by the families and extended families within a Korean clan village.

PURPOSE This ethnography is aimed at describing the care-giving practices of the nuclear family and relatives of the elderly within a clan village in relation to their socio-cultural context. Four basic notions of the study came from Leininger's culture care theory and the nurse-client negotiation model of Anderson. In order to understand the cultural system of caring, the following questions were explored: What caring behaviors are performed for the elderly person in a clan and how do these behavior relate to the various components of that particular culture? METHOD Data for this study was gathered through twenty-one fieldwork expeditions between September 1994 and December 2002 using interviews and participant observation of 7 families drown from two extended families. Data was analyzed using the techniques of taxonomy, value, and proxemics analysis. FINDINGS The socio-cultural context of caring for elderly people, their caring values, and four categories of caring were explored. Values of caring and every day life in the clan were hierarchical, reciprocal, and collective. The four categories of caring were: being with, empowering, keeping territory, and enhancing spirituality. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study can be used to understand culture-specific care and to provide culturally congruent care for the elderly in a clinical setting.