Harmonizing Beliefs With Realities: Social Support Among Older Puerto Ricans With Disabilities

Mariana T. Guzzardo, Wallis E. Adams, Irina L. G. Todorova and Luis M. Falcón

SAGE Open, 2017, vol. 7, issue 2, 2158244017715337

Abstract: Older Puerto Ricans of the diaspora live with evident health and socioeconomic disparities, heightening their need for support. They also provide a unique transnational case in which to explore the exchange of support. This study aims to understand the informal social support experiences of older Puerto Ricans with disabilities. Data are based on the translated transcripts of 25 interviews with Spanish-speaking, Island-born Puerto Ricans living in Boston. We identify four themes through thematic analysis: (a) making sense of responsibility within valued familial relationships, (b) conceptualizing friends as family, (c) finding resolve and meaning despite isolation, and (d) (not) asking for help. These themes delineate an incongruence between their beliefs and their lived experiences of social support, as well as how this contradiction is sometimes harmonized. Whereas some older Puerto Ricans with disabilities have support to rely on, others are isolated and lack support to address the challenges of functional impairment.

Keywords: Puerto Ricans; familismo; marianismo; social support; disability; qualitative methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244017715337 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:7:y:2017:i:2:p:2158244017715337

DOI: 10.1177/2158244017715337

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in SAGE Open
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().