title: Latino elders reframing familismo: implications for health and caregiving support.
abstract: Abstract: This study explores Latino elders' perceptions of familismo and the extent to which a familistic orientation translates into health support. Latinos have traditionally been portrayed as adhering to a familistic orientation with the presumption of duty and obligation to care or aging parents. Latino elders participated in focus groups that became the basis of this study. These elders shared ways they are reframing the familismo construct. Despite a greater need for support, elders reported infrequent contact with family. In the absence of family, family boundaries have been extended, so that others become "like family to me. The findings call into question the present state of familismo and the presumption that the Latino family is able to care for its own.
authors.affiliation: Chicano Studies Research Center, University of California Los Angeles, School of Nursing, Factor 5-145, 700 Tiverton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-6919, USA. mruiz@sonnet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Maria Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: H Edward
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Ransford
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006304:Health Status; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States