Understanding Constraints on Family Caregivers’ Coping with Psychological Burden: A Qualitative Study Toward Support System Design

Abstract

Family caregivers experience substantial psychological burden in daily caregiving, yet it remains unclear how they cope with this burden in everyday life and what constraints shape the effectiveness of their efforts. This exploratory qualitative study aimed to classify daily coping strategies, identify factors distinguishing successful and unsuccessful experiences, and derive implications for support system design. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with five family caregivers as a contextual informant, and analyzed the data using a bottom-up coding approach.The analysis identified four categories of coping strategies: behavioral and environmental adjustments, collaborative support with family members and professionals, emotional regulation, and cognitive reappraisal. Behavioral adjustments were sometimes effective but could paradoxically increase caregiver burden. Collaborative support was often constrained by care recipients’ resistance, leading to psychological isolation. Emotional regulation was selectively practiced within relationships where empathy was anticipated. Although record-keeping supported cognitive reappraisal, it offered limited immediate emotional relief and was difficult to sustain. Overall, the findings suggest that caregivers’ coping efforts are shaped by contextual and relational constraints, resulting in reliance on internal adjustments. Future support systems should complement these internal coping processes by facilitating emotional processing and reducing the psychological costs of reflection and sharing.

Keywords: Family Caregivers, Psychological Burden, Aging And Dementia, Human Factors, Coping Strategies

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007568