“God will prosper you for doing this for me”: A Phenomenological Exploration of Older Carers’ Experiences of Informal Caregiving in Nigeria

Background and objectives Many studies on informal caregiving experiences recruited samples from clinical settings or pre-existing datasets, resulting in suspected selection biases. There is also a limited understanding of how culture shapes the perceptions of positive caregiving beyond the Asian context. In Nigeria, existing studies on older adults’ care primarily focus on young and middle-aged caregivers. This study fills existing gaps by investigating the experiences of informal caregiving among community-dwelling older carers in Nigeria. Research design and methods Thirty in-depth interviews were conducted with community-dwelling older informal caregivers aged 54-88 years against the backdrop of a life expectancy of 53 years in Nigeria. Van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological design guided this study. We managed the qualitative data with QSR NVivo 12 software. Results Our findings include themes of financial constraint, poor health, a crowded-out personal life, a mismatch between care recipients’ expectations and caregivers’ capacity, blessings from God, benefits elicited by reciprocity, and individuals’ perception of the intrinsic worth of caregiving. Discussion and implications Our findings highlight both the challenging and rewarding aspects of informal caregiving. In the absence of formal support systems, the demands of caregiving may have a more pronounced impact on caregivers in Nigeria. Moreover, the nuances in our participants’ experience of positive caregiving outcomes are shaped by their adherence to Afrocentric cultural norms. Our findings highlight the need to develop tailored support programs and a deeper level of work to fortify cultural norms that promote the wellbeing of older people in the family in Nigeria.