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Limiting Long term illness and informal care: Experiences of older people in Sylhet city, Bangladesh

This study aimed to explore the experiences of informal care services received by older people with long term illness (LLTI) living in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. The study was conducted using the qualitative research approach and both purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to gain easy access to the respondents. The semi-structured interviews of twenty one (21) samples and two (02) focus group discussion (FGDs) were arranged with six to eight participants in each group to generate sufficient primary data and address the research objectives. The study findings highlight the fact that older people with LLTI experiences multiple disadvantages in terms of ill health, poverty and other socio-cultural factors. It is evident from the study that the traditional aspect of family caring is facing challenges e.g. strain relationship with informal carers, differences in choice of food, etc. The study findings also reveal that family’s ability to provide care has been also contracted for a number of reasons including poverty of the family, death of spouse, inappropriate housing condition, high cost of treatment etc. The study points out some potential source of tension and strain relationship which creates potential risk of older neglect and abuse inside the family. study findings also reveal that the mental health of older people is challenged and severely affected by the death of a spouse. In our Bangladeshi society, the informal caring is primarily done through the network of kinships and particularly by the spouses. In case of the death of a spouse, the scope of caring in the family is shrunk significantly. Consequently, the old people face loneliness, insecurity, and emotional imbalances created due to the death of spouse: