Abstract
Caring for patients with progressive deteriorating health at home is demanding, which can result in physical, emotional, and financial burdens. Culture has an impact on health and illness in many ways, and it is an important component in understanding the caregiving experience as well. The purpose of this ethnographic study was to describe the lived experience of wives in South Korea whose husbands were diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Eleven wife-caregivers who cared for husbands with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were interviewed and observed between September 2009 and July 2010 in a metropolitan area of South Korea. The data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive analysis. Four cultural thematic findings emerged: the burden of new roles as the head of family and guardian, the burden of sexual relations, the burden of relationship with in-laws, and the burden of becoming the family decision maker. By increasing their insight and sensitivity toward the experience of the wife-caregivers, nurses and health care professionals can better promote culturally congruent interventions to decrease the caregiving burden and improve relationships between wives and ill husbands.