PALYATİF BAKIM HASTALARINA BAKIM VEREN KADINLARIN DENEYİMLERİNDE TOPLUMSAL CİNSİYET ROLLERİNİN ANALİZİ

Abstract

Although caregiving responsibilities in palliative care are predominantly undertaken by women, studies examining how women experience this process within the context of gender and how caregiving experiences relate to gender inequalities remain limited. This study aims to analyze the gender roles experienced by women caregivers during the caregiving process from a feminist perspective. The study was conducted using a qualitative research design. Data were collected through in-depth interviews based on a semi-structured interview form. The participants consisted of women caregivers who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study and who were providing care to patients receiving treatment in the palliative care units of Kocaeli State Hospital, Ankara Etlik City Hospital, Samsun Training and Research Hospital, and Ordu Training and Research Hospital in 2025. Using purposive sampling, data were collected from 18 women caregivers. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis using the MAXQDA software program. The findings of the study were examined under four themes: the gendering of care and the assignment of caregiving responsibilities to women; economic dependency, power relations, and gender-based inequalities; the burden and coping strategies of women caregivers during the caregiving process; and the questioning and partial transformation of gender roles. The study revealed that women caregivers in palliative care bear not only caregiving responsibilities but also substantial emotional labor and mental burden. This burden is reinforced by inequalities in family power relations, the transfer of caregiving responsibilities to families—and predominantly to women—through policy choices, and the inadequacy of psychosocial support mechanisms. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the need to restructure palliative care services through a gender-sensitive perspective, develop systematic psychosocial support models for caregivers, and provide practice implications for multidisciplinary palliative care teams from a feminist social work perspective.