Research Corner The Decision to Care: A Life-Altering Experience

The decision to care is often mandated by unavoidable alterations within the family, requir-ing a primary caregiver. One population that often requires complex community-based care is survivors of prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV). This investigation explored the choices and challenges of eight family caregivers of PMV survivors. Using content analysis, several mutu-ally exclusive themes emerged describing the caregiving experience as a physically exhausting, emotionally stressful decision that required a life-style change to actualize. Even with the burden-some challenges and overwhelming nature of the caregiving experience, participants identified positive rewards associated with the caregiving role. Home health care nurses are in a unique position to facilitate an effective transition to the caregiving role, serving as conduits for caregiver education and skill acquisition and advocating for the development of vital infrastructures that will provide resources, reassurance, and respite from burdensome caregiving challenges. Typically, individuals have the opportunity tochoose their professional careers. However, thedecision to care is often mandated by unavoid-able alterations within the family or social structure that require an individual to assume a family caregiving career (Aneshensel, Pearlin, Mullan, Zarit, & Whitlatch, 1995). Although not a new occurrence, a