The Connections between Attitudes towards Nursing Home Placement, Intergenerational Solidarity, and the Conflict between Tradition and Modernity among Three Generations of Arab Muslim Families in Israel

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine three generations of Arab Muslims in Israel, to investigate the relationships between their attitudes regarding the placement of an older relative in a nursing home, intergenerational solidarity, and to ultimately proceed with the nursing home placement. The backdrop to this examination was the increasing sociocultural tension between modernization tendencies and the long-established traditions and norms in the Arab Muslim society in Israel. The sample included a total of 126 university students, as well as one parent and one grandparent of each student. All participants completed identical questionnaires examining the attitudes towards the nursing home placement of an elder relative. The findings of the study indicate a strong objection among the youngest generation, whose attitudes were more similar to those of their grandparents than to those of their parents. Psychosocial mechanisms in the Arab Muslim population, such as intergenerational solidarity, has been the subject of increased scrutiny and debate over recent years, given the intensive pace of modern developments, which has called into question the familiar norms, thus constituting a threat to the tradition that has guided the population throughout numerous centuries and generations.