A Typology of Consumers of Institutional Respite Care

In this descriptive ethnography, a typology of consumers of institutional respite care and phases of respite care were formulated from the data collected over a 1-year period at a 24-bed hospital-based skilled nursing facility in the western United States. The sample was drawn from facility billing records, which verified the type of care under the term respite care. Using anthropological fieldwork methods, data were obtained from 14 caregiving dyads plus two care recipients who did not have family caregivers. The identified caregiver categories were depletion, maintenance, caregiver surgery or illness, and no available family caregiver. Phases of respite care provided information regarding the caregivers’ experience in the process of decision making, transitioning to time away from the care recipient, and postrespite adjustment. This model has implications for the structure and process of respite care design and decision making. This may provide a promising avenue in the respite care research arena.