ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information about family caregiving for Filipino elders with dementia, unique perspectives of the caregivers’ experience, core cultural values that motivate caregiving, promote resilience, and sustain the Filipino American family’s beliefs and coping strategies. Patterns of family help-seeking, shared caregiving, and evolving trends in decision making are discussed as elements of the Filipino American family’s holistic approach to the complex process of caring for aging family members. Demography and immigration history are included as background information on the predominantly immigrant group of Filipino elders and the Filipino American population in the United States. The information can be useful for developing some understanding of the family caregiving process for a Filipino elder with dementia. The insights gained can be applied to establish rapport and trust with the older person with dementia, the family caregiver, and the elder’s family members, and to enhance the provider’s comfort level to incorporate cultural beliefs and practices of the Filipino family into dementia care.
