Table 2.

Core Management Tasks of Family Caregivers Managing Paid Care at Home.

Day-to-Day Monitoring

(The paid caregivers) have to know that someone else is looking out constantly for my mother. It involves me constantly calling or visiting or my brother and I visit, making sure everything’s okay in the apartment. Because from experience, if you don’t get extremely involved… (the paid caregivers) might not do their part that they should. You have to just be really on your toes and make sure that they’re doing their part. (Study 1, Caregiver 19)

Some of them, they were falling asleep. I was calling, “Listen. This is not for you to come to sleep. You’re for watching my grandma.” This is one of the problems that I used to have before: they go to sleep. That’s why I put a camera. (Study 1, Caregiver 7)

When (the paid caregivers) say they go out, I believe that they go out… (I know because] I do pop-ups. Sometimes I would go to where they would go, and they would just be there. Or I would call and if they were still at home I would say, “Did you go out today?” They would say, “Oh we didn’t go out today.” (Study 2, Caregiver 16).

Building Relationships with Paid Caregivers

I realized I have to work with (the paid caregivers) and make them happy, so when they come in, I give them water. If I get a pizza pie, I share pizza with them. I make it like they’re part of the family. Do you know what I’m saying? I think once you have that rapport with them, then you’ll feel comfortable leaving your mother with them. I can go out and then I know that they’ll do the best that they can do for my mom because I see them as human beings and I understand where they’re coming from. (Study 1, Caregiver 9)

When I go there and I see my mom, I consider these ladies my family now. They take care of my mother. They are my everything when I can’t be there for her… When we go there, we sit around and we talk. We have coffee. We have a familial thing… I wanted my mom’s home to feel like home even though she couldn’t be doing her thing. She couldn’t do anything, but I wanted to walk in and feel that safety. That’s how I feel with the ladies. I feel like they’re part of the family. (Study 1, Caregiver 12)

I find that I have to engage (the paid caregivers) more because I think that they’re more timid to reach out to me for anything, but I constantly reach out to them to reassure them that I like a call if he’s extra “special” today… If there’s anything that they need that I’m not thinking of, you know, house supplies, et cetera. We have a good relationship where they text me if there’s a need or some emergency. (Study 1, Caregiver 20)

It’s important to me that the aide feels that I’m accessible, and that she can tell me if there’s a problem and communicate it to me. That is number one. If that isn’t happening, then that’s bad. (Study 1, Caregiver 4)