Transnational family care: experiences of family carers of people with dementia among migrants from Hong Kong in Vancouver

Older immigrants with co-morbidities and functional disabilities require care, which is often provided by their families. While transnational family care for older immigrants has been widely studied, little attention has been paid to those living with dementia. Hong Kong Canadian immigrants are widely recognized as flexible circular transnational migrants, yet dementia restricts the mobility of both older adults and their family carers. Using a transnational lens, this paper reports findings from a qualitative study based on interviews with 13 Hong Kong Canadian immigrant family carers in Vancouver—a city with one of the largest Hong Kong immigrant populations in Canada—about their care experiences. First, flexible migration patterns shape family care dynamics and practices. Second, participants navigate formal care by drawing on two frames of reference: Hong Kong and Canada. Third, families negotiate two cultures of care; while they prefer culturally and linguistically appropriate services, they often adopt a pragmatic approach, relying on available options within the mainstream system. Fourth, information and communication technology (ICT) enables families to sustain care that reflects cultural values across distance. This paper also highlights several practical implications. Practitioners should recognize the migration patterns of immigrant families, while policymakers need to fund and expand ethnocultural services and improve access to ICT within care facilities. ICT can also be leveraged to involve family members residing abroad in care decision-making. This paper contributes to the literature on transnational family care, which has largely focused on general aging, by examining family care in the context of dementia. • Family carers' flexible transnational migration shapes family dynamics and care. • Carers' choices in formal care are informed by two frames of reference. • Carers prefer culture and language-appropriate services, but resources are limited. • Information and communication technology connects transnational family members. • Propose research and practice implications to support transnational family carers.