The Carer Persona: Masking Individual Identities

Authors

  • Timothy R. Broady Carers NSW, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21153/ps2015vol1no1art392

Keywords:

persona, carers, identity, recognition, support

Abstract

According to Jungian theory, ‘persona’ is a concept reflecting a compromise between the individual and society. In mediating between a person’s subjective inner world and the external social world, the persona represents a generalised idea of the self which builds up from experiences of interacting with society. Such reflections of self-identity can therefore develop across multiple domains of a person’s life, culminating in understandings of self in a variety of specific roles. The existence of multiple personas can be clearly demonstrated in the context of people providing unpaid care for a family member or friend who has a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, or who is frail. Carers are likely to possess multiple roles as an individual, existing across various social and personal domains. This paper argues that in caring for loved one, a compromise takes place between individual selves and the social caring role. That is, the ‘carer persona’ can mask a carer’s individual identities and their associated needs. The potential complexity of caring roles is therefore explored, with an emphasis on acknowledging the personal needs and identities of carers beyond their caring roles. This acknowledgment has implications for service delivery and policy development regarding carers and those for whom they care.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Timothy R. Broady, Carers NSW, Australia

Timothy Broady is the Senior Research and Development Officer at Carers NSW. He has a background in psychological and social research and has research interests including informal care, family relationships, disability, child development, and service provision.

References

Abraham, Kristen M., and Catherine H. Stein. "When Mom Has a Mental Illness: Role Reversal and Psychosocial Adjustment among Emerging Adults." Journal of Clinical Psychology 69.6 (2013): 600-15. Wiley Online Library. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.

Alpass, Fiona, et al. "The Influence of Ethnicity and Gender on Caregiver Health in Older New Zealanders." The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 68.5 (2013): 783-93. Oxford Journals. Web. 22 Jul. 2013.

Arksey, Hilary. "Combining Informal Care and Work: Supporting Carers in the Workplace." Health and Social Care in the Community 10.3 (2002): 151-61. Wiley Online Library. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Arksey, Hilary, and Caroline Glendinning. "Combining Work and Care: Carers’ Decision-Making in the Context of Competing Policy Pressures." Social Policy & Administration 42.1 (2008): 1-18. Wiley Online Library. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.

Boström, Petra K., and Malin Broberg. "Openness and Avoidance - a Longitudinal Study of Fathers of Children with Intellectual Disability." Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 58.9 (2014): 810-21. Wiley Online Library. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.

Boyd, Kirsty J., et al. "Living with Advanced Heart Failure: A Prospective, Community Based Study of Patients and Their Carers." European Journal of Heart Failure 6.5 (2004): 585-91. Wiley Online Library. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.

Broady, Timothy. "Resilience across the Continuum of Care." M/C Journal 16.5 (2013). Web. 21 Oct. 2013.

Brobäck, Gunilla, and Carina Berterö. "How Next of Kin Experience Palliative Care of Relatives at Home." European Journal of Cancer Care 12.4 (2003): 339-46. Wiley Online Library. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.

Burton, Peter, Lynn Lethbridge, and Shelley Phipps. "Children with Disabilities and Chronic Conditions and Longer-Term Parental Health." The Journal of Socio-Economics 37.3 (2008): 1168-86. Science Direct. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.

Cain, Roy, Michael MacLean, and Scott Sellick. "Giving Support and Getting Help: Informal Caregivers' Experiences with Palliative Care Services." Palliative & Supportive Care 2.3 (2004): 265-72. Cambridge Journals. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.

Carduff, Emma, et al. "Understanding the Barriers to Identifying Carers of People with Supportive and Palliative Care Needs in Primary Care." BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care 4.Suppl 1 (2014): A17. BMJ. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Carers NSW. Carers NSW 2014 Carer Survey: Main Report. Sydney: Carers NSW, 2014.

Cass, Bettina, et al. Young Carers in Australia: Understanding the Advantages and Disadvantages of Their Care Giving.: Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, 2009.

Cummins, Robert A., et al. The Wellbeing of Australians - Carer Health and Wellbeing. Melbourne: Australian Centre on Quality of Life, Deakin University, 2007.

del Río-Lozano, María, et al. "Gender Identity in Informal Care: Impact on Health in Spanish Caregivers." Qualitative Health Research 23.11 (2013): 1506-20. SAGE Journals. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.

Eriksson, Henrik, Jonas Sandberg, and Ingrid Hellström. "Experiences of Long-Term Home Care as an Informal Caregiver to a Spouse: Gendered Meanings in Everyday Life for Female Carers." International Journal of Older People Nursing 8.2 (2013): 159-65. Wiley Online Library. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.

Eriksson, Henrik, et al. "His Helping Hands - Adult Daughter's Perceptions' of Fathers with Caregiving Responsibility." European Journal of Social Work 16.2 (2013): 235-48. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 27 May 2013.

Foley, Simon. "Reluctant ‘Jailors’ Speak Out: Parents of Adults with Down Syndrome Living in the Parental Home on How They Negotiate the Tension between Empowering and Protecting Their Intellectually Disabled Sons and Daughters." British Journal of Learning Disabilities 41.4 (2013): 296-303. Wiley Online Library. Web. 11 Sept. 2012.

George, Ajesh, et al. "Working and Caring for a Child with Chronic Illness: Challenges in Maintaining Employment." Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 20.3 (2008): 165-76. Springer Link. Web. 23 Jul. 2013.

Gill, Elizabeth A., and Melanie Morgan. "Older Parents and Adult Daughters." Research on Aging 34.6 (2012): 714-37. SAGE Journals. Web. 4 Oct. 2012.

Griffith, Gemma Maria, and Richard P. Hastings. "‘He's Hard Work, but He's Worth It’. The Experience of Caregivers of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities and Challenging Behaviour: A Meta-Synthesis of Qualitative Research." Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 27.5 (2014): 401-19. Wiley Online Library. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.

Griffith, Gemma Maria, et al. "“We Are All There Silently Coping.” the Hidden Experiences of Parents of Adults with Asperger Syndrome." Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability 37.3 (2012): 237-47. Informa Healthcare. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

Hallé, Marie Christine, and Guylaine Le Dorze. "Understanding Significant Others’ Experience of Aphasia and Rehabilitation Following Stroke." Disability and Rehabilitation 36.21 (2014): 1774-82. Informa Healthcare. Web. 6 Jan. 2014.

Hudson, Wayne C. "Persona and Defence Mechanisms." Journal of Analytical Psychology 23.1 (1978): 54-62. Wiley Online Library. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

Ingleton, Christine. "The Views of Patients and Carers on One Palliative Care Service." International Journal of Palliative Nursing 5.4 (1999): 187-95.

Jowsey, Tanisha, et al. "Time to Care? Health of Informal Older Carers and Time Spent on Health Related Activities: An Australian Survey." BMC Public Health 13.1 (2013): 374. BioMed Central. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.

Jung, Carl Gustav. The Collected Works of C. G. Jung. Vol. 7. 2nd ed. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1966.

---. The Collected Works of C. G. Jung. Vol. 6. 2nd ed. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1971.

Kavanaugh, Melinda S., Hyunjin Noh, and Lynette Studer. "“It’d Be Nice If Someone Asked Me How I Was Doing. Like, ‘Cause I Will Have an Answer”: Exploring Support Needs of Young Carers of a Parent with Huntington’s Disease." Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies 10.1 (2015): 12-25. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

Kieffer-Kristensen, Rikke, and Karen Lise Gaardsvig Johansen. "Hidden Loss: A Qualitative Explorative Study of Children Living with a Parent with Acquired Brain Injury." Brain Injury 27.13-14 (2013): 1562-69. Informa Healthcare. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.

La Fontaine, Jenny, and Jan R. Oyebode. "Family Relationships and Dementia: A Synthesis of Qualitative Research Including the Person with Dementia." Ageing & Society 34.7 (2014): 1243-72. Cambridge Journals. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.

Lawn, Sharon, and Janne McMahon. "The Importance of Relationship in Understanding the Experiences of Spouse Mental Health Carers." Qualitative Health Research 24.2 (2014): 254-66. SAGE Journals. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.

McConnell, David, Amber Savage, and Rhonda Breitkreuz. "Resilience in Families Raising Children with Disabilities and Behavior Problems." Research in Developmental Disabilities 35.4 (2014): 833-48. Science Direct. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.

McConnell, David, et al. "Benefit-Finding or Finding Benefits? The Positive Impact of Having a Disabled Child." Disability & Society 30.1 (2015): 29-45. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

Moore, Tim, and Morag McArthur. "We're All in It Together: Supporting Young Carers and Their Families in Australia." Health and Social Care in the Community 15.6 (2007): 561-68. Wiley Online Library. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.

Safe, Anneleise, Annette Joosten, and Matthew Molineux. "The Experiences of Mothers of Children with Autism: Managing Multiple Roles." Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability 37.4 (2012): 294-302. Informa Healthcare. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.

Savundranayagam, Marie Y. "Receiving While Giving: The Differential Roles of Receiving Help and Satisfaction with Help on Caregiver Rewards among Spouses and Adult-Children." International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 29.1 (2014): 41-48. Wiley Online Library. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.

Seltzer, Marsha Mailick , et al. "Life Course Impacts of Parenting a Child with a Disability." American Journal on Mental Retardation 106.3 (2001): 265-86. American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Web. 23 Jul. 2013.

Sharp, Daryl. C. G. Jung Lexixon: A Primer of Terms of Concepts. Toronto: Inner City Books, 1991.

Smyth, Ciara, Megan Blaxland, and Bettina Cass. "‘So That's How I Found out I Was a Young Carer and That I Actually Had Been a Carer Most of My Life’. Identifying and Supporting Hidden Young Carers." Journal of Youth Studies 14.2 (2011): 145-60. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.

Stein, Judith A., Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, and Patricia Lester. "Impact of Parentification on Long-Term Outcomes among Children of Parents with Hiv/Aids." Family Process 46.3 (2007): 317-33. Wiley Online Library. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.

Tompkins, Tanya L. "Parentification and Maternal Hiv Infection: Beneficial Role or Pathological Burden?" Journal of Child and Family Studies 16.1 (2007): 108-18. Springer Link. Web. 7 Aug. 2013.

Ussher, Jane Maria, et al. "The Gendered Construction and Experience of Difficulties and Rewards in Cancer Care." Qualitative Health Research 23.7 (2013): 900-15. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

Ussher, Jane Maria, and Mirjana Sandoval. "Gender Differences in the Construction and Experience of Cancer Care: The Consequences of the Gendered Positioning of Carers." Psychology & Health 23.8 (2008): 945-63. SAGE Journals. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

Ward-Griffin, Catherine, and Patricia McKeever. "Relationships between Nurses and Family Caregivers: Partners in Care?" Advances in Nursing Science 22.3 (2000): 89-103.

Downloads

Published

2015-04-08

How to Cite

Broady, T. R. (2015). The Carer Persona: Masking Individual Identities. Persona Studies, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.21153/ps2015vol1no1art392

Issue

Section

Open Submission Articles