A Unitary Caring Theory Perspective of Family Caregiving for Patients Hospitalized With a Stroke in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of Saudi informal family caregivers of hospitalized patients who have experienced a stroke. In-depth, face-to-face, semistructured interviews of five family caregivers using open-ended questions were conducted in a major hospital in Saudi Arabia. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using the unitary-caring hermeneutic phenomenological research method. Data analysis revealed six major essences that were synthesized into one statement reflecting the essence of caring for a family member with a stroke in Saudi Arabia: Living with the uncertainty of ambiguity amid feeling distressed with worries and fears replete with unfulfilled desires while yearning for compassionate caring and overcoming uncertainties through connections and faith honoring abiding commitments. As a means to transform the findings into theory and language of the nursing discipline, the essences were then interpreted within the theory of unitary caring.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia; family caregivers; phenomenology; stroke patients; unitary caring theory.