The experiences of midlife daughters who are caregivers for their mothers.

A study was conducted of the experiences of midlife daughters who are caregivers for their aging mothers. I recruited participants through a daughters-of-aging-parents program at the Women's Resource Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia. The phenomenological research method was used to elicit midlife daughters' descriptions of their caregiving experiences and the emotions generated by these experiences. The findings elucidated a development framework--the Continuum of Care--along with daughters vacillated during their caregiving experiences. Health care practitioners can use the Continuum of Care framework to identify triggers to assist daughters to develop healthy caregiving relationships with their mothers.