Study on Folk Caring for the Elderly - Focus on Korean minority Yanbian, Chian -

노인의 민간 돌봄에 대한 연구 - 중국 연변지역 조선족을 중심으로

The purpose of this study was to identify caregivers of the elderly, the pattern of the caregivers' caring behaviors, and the cultural principles of patterns of caring behaviors practiced in a Korean minority community, Yanbian. To clarify these, an ethnographic approach was used. The fieldwork for this study was conducted from Aug. 24, 1993 to May 20, 1994. The informants were 16 natives, age 60 or more, who were members of a large family of three generations. The results of the study are as follows. The caregivers for the elderly were family, kinship and community groups. Family caregivers for the elderly were spouses, sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, sons of former wives, sons of former husbands, adopted sons. daughters and sons-in-law. The elderly had caregivers who were part of the kinship group. Three community groups provided care for the elderly. The three community groups were Dokbozo. a formal large organization for the elderly. the same age group as an informal small meeting for the elderly, and other community younger groups. The findings of this study indicated that family caregivers, especially spouses and sons, are the significant others of the elderly, and comminuty groups are better caring groups than kinship relatives. This study identified forty-three different kind of caring behaviors. They were divided into fifteen behavior patterns. These patterns integrated into five categories : soo-bal(¼?¹ß), protecting, respect, support, jung(?×). For physical comfort, soo-bal and protecting were conducted. For the comfort of mind, respect. support, and jung were conducted. The comfort of mind are better than physical comfort for the elderly. Cultural principles of caring behaviors were group membership, reciprocity, and harmony. But there was no hierarchy priciple. And these three principles provide best caring together at the same time. This study provides significant data for nursing research, theory and practice.