Who cares?
Experiences of some men in black
and minority ethnic communities in
Newcastle, on each of whom
another person depends
Exploratory interviews
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Response to identified gap
14 men took part in in-depth interviews
Bangladeshi, Indian, Chinese and Pakistani
Age range from teens through mid-twenties,
thirties, forties, fifties, sixties to early seventies
Wives, mothers, fathers and mothers-in-law
depend on this group of men, because of
degenerative physical illness, mental ill health,
cancer and vascular disease
Interview schedule
Do you think of yourself as a carer?
 Can you tell us about yourself as
someone on whom another person
depends?
 Was there an expectation that you’d take
on caring responsibility?
 Can you tell us about any support you
get?
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Emerging themes
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Labour of love
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Mixed feelings
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Significance of gender
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Protective element of religious belief
Labour of love: “Nothing special”
I never thought of myself as a carer. It’s
a duty of love. Saying ‘carer’ takes away
my positive sense of duty. ‘Carer’ sounds
like a job. I’m happy to do it
 I’m not doing anything special
 That’s how it should be .... If they are
family then you look after them
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Labour of love: Hard work
Balancing caring with school/paid work/
university and social activities
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I have to negotiate time for studying
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When you have to get up in the night and
there’s work next day, you think “Do I
have to….”
Mixed feelings
There’s a sense of needing to sacrifice
some of my youth
 It’s difficult when there’s a crisis and I
have to respond. Though you do adapt
to it and it makes you stronger
 It’s been a hard journey with a sense of
battling. Sometimes I’ve felt helpless
 Sometimes it feels as though I have no
choice – we’re stuck together
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Gender
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When she took ill she needed someone to look after
her … now it’s my turn, my time and I’m doing my best
When we visited (country of origin) some people were
surprised at the level of personal support I give her. I
wasn’t ashamed
Without men in this family Mum couldn’t have
managed the lifting. A daughter can’t change and
wash a father, out of respect There’s an expectation in
the family that I and my brothers will do these things
though it can still be embarrassing for us
I still go out to work – for women it can be so much
more difficult
Protection of religious belief
As a Christian, looking after my wife is
part of being married for life, and part of
loving her
 It doesn’t matter who you are caring for,
you need to look after yourself, in line
with Islamic teaching. You have to help
yourself before you can help others
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Support
I don’t want to admit there’s something wrong.
It would be good to have someone to talk to, to
be able to move on with your life
 I didn’t know anything about the support
available before. It’s a new journey for me
 The Carers Centre is really useful. If you have
any problem they will signpost and offer help.
There’s pampering and massage
 Importance of community support – “It’s good
to socialise and talk about how I feel”
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Follow on
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Scholars could step in and explain issues for
carers from Islamic perspective
 Need to promote care workers because a lot
of families don’t know about the support … it’s
not sold to them
 Potential of outreach to men’s clubs and
mosques and other religious places (The Princes
Royal Trust for Carers, 2010, Caring for all carers: A survey of services
for BME and seldom heard carers in Carers Centres and Crossroads
Care Schemes)