Doctoral Dissertation Research: Catalyzing Caregivers - The Mobilizing Effects of "Rights Talk" among Informal Family Caregivers

本文考察了法律动员策略在非正式家庭照顾者中发展政治意识的有效性。该项目有三个目标：(1)分析法律倡导组织如何利用法律和权利的话语来动员具有强烈规范性承诺的个人，以替代非法律的意义建构体系；(2)确定法律权利话语是否以及在多大程度上与家庭照护者产生共鸣，作为理解他们长期照护经历的一种方式；(3)评估法律倡导框架策略和照顾者观念之间存在的差异程度，以及这种差异如何解释非正式照顾者集体行动努力的弱点。该项目主要针对两类参与者：(1)致力于为护理社区及其患者服务的法律倡导组织的工作人员；(2)癌症、阿尔茨海默病和艾滋病患者的护理人员，主要来自支持团体。该项目采用三方方法来评估这两个群体如何构建非正式照料者所面临的问题和问题。数据收集包括：(a)非参与性观察工作人员会议和支助小组会议；(b)同侪小组讨论（由研究人员主持的一次或两次由同一工作人员和支助小组成员参加的会议）；(c)与工作人员和支持小组参与者进行一对一访谈。该项目有助于社会运动框架文献，以及关于法律意识和替代规范系统的社会法学文献，并对公共政策产生更广泛的影响。

This dissertation examines the efficacy of legal mobilization tactics for developing political consciousness among informal family caregivers. The project has three objectives: (1) To analyze how legal advocacy organizations utilize the discourse of law and rights to mobilize individuals with strong normative commitments to alternative, nonlegal systems of meaningmaking; (2) to identify whether, and to what degree, legal rights discourse resonates with family careworkers as a way of making sense of their experiences in long-term caregiving; and (3) to assess the extent to which a disparity exists between legal advocacy framing strategies and caregiver perceptions, and how such a disparity might explain the observed weakness of collective action efforts among informal caregivers. The project focuses on two types of participants: (1) staffmembers of legal advocacy organizations dedicated to serving the caregiving community and their patients, and (2) caregivers for individuals with cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and AIDS, largely drawn from support groups. The project employs a tri-partite methodology to assess how both groups construct the problems and issues faced by informal caregivers. Data collection include: (a) nonparticipant observation of staff meetings and support group meetings; (b) peer group discussions (a researcher-led session of one or two meetings of the same staff and support group members); and (c) one-on-one interviews with staff and support group participants. The project contributes to the social movement framing literature, and to the sociolegal literature on legal consciousness and alternative normative systems, as well as having broader impacts for public policy.