DAUGHTERS CAREGIVING DECISIONS - FROM AN IMPULSE TO A BALANCING POINTOF CARE

Daughters comprise 29% of all caregivers of the dependent elderly and make decisions about parent care in a context of ambiguous and changin g role expectations. This qualitative study explored the decision proc ess of ten caregiving daughters. The women responded to parent depende ncy with an impulse to care and pursued a balancing point of care in t he face of limiting decision conditions. Each daughter constructed a s ense of ''enough'': an equation of her multiply-determined impulse to care and her personal threshold of support. These constructions help e xplain the variability of levels, lengths, and forms of parent care.