(THE EXPERIENCE OF ADULT CHILDREN CARING FOR ELDERLY PARENTS: A COMMUNITY EDUCATION APPROACH)

The main purpose of this study is to understand the nature of adult children caregivers’ experiences and how they manage their daily living activities while caring for older parents. A case study guided by phenomenology is chosen as an approach in this study. Selected respondents are Malay adult children caring for elderly parents aged 60 and above, in low-income families in Kuala Lumpur. Respondents are also selected according to the care provided to three groups of elderly parents (healthy, disabled and frail) based on one continuum. The findings reved that there are gaps between caring for the elderly parents in these three groups especially in the aspect of program development (community participation and delivery services) through social support based on community education. This study has also proposed a coping strategy approach based on community education for adult children caregivers.