“What Will Come Will Come”: The Journey of Adjustment and Acceptance on the Path of Dementia Care Among Vietnamese Family Caregivers

Abstract

In this article, we explore the psychological process through which Vietnamese family caregivers adjust to their role as primary caregivers for their relatives with dementia. The study adopted a constructivist grounded theory approach to collect data with 30 face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 20 self-identified primary caregivers of older adults with dementia in Vietnam. The core adjustment process, consisting of four stages ( Experience, Acknowledgment, Experiment, and Acceptance [ EAEA]), to caregiving role emerged from the data. The EAEA process highlights the importance of self-perception, self-perception focused strategies, and acceptance of caregivers and suggests an adjustment process to their “becoming self” in caregiving. The EAEA process was reflected in the transactional relationship with caregiver personal factors (demographic and relational characteristics with care recipients, personal beliefs in and commitments to caregiving, and personal history of caregiving and coping with past adversity) and structural factors (cultural values and norms, social support, and social pressure).