Invisible labor, relational lives: Poetic inquiry into women of color navigating dual-role caregiving

AbstractR Background and Objectives Qualitative methods are foundational to gerontological research, yet conventional analytic approaches may obscure the relational, moral, and embodied dimensions of caregiving that unfold across aging care systems. Women of color employed in long-term care who also provide unpaid caregiving inhabit intersecting landscapes of care that remain under-described. This study responds to calls for methodological innovation in gerontology by advancing poetic inquiry as a rigorous qualitative approach for illuminating caregiving across institutional and domestic contexts. Research Design and Methods Guided by feminist ethics and intersectionality, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight women of color working in long-term care who also identified as family caregivers. Using a voice-centered relational approach, I-Poems were constructed from transcripts to preserve first-person language, temporal flow, and meaning. Grounded in the Listening Guide, analysis emphasized relational listening, reflexivity, and attentiveness to marginalized voices, positioning poems as both analytic products and ethical encounters. Results The I-Poems illuminate caregiving as intersubjective, continuous, and morally grounded, characterized by blurred boundaries between paid and unpaid care, work and home, self and other, and obligation and choice. Care emerged not as discrete roles but as a way of being-with others across aging contexts. Discussion and Implications The findings challenge work–life balance discourses and call for relationally attuned workplace policies that recognize caregiving as socially embedded and valued labor. By demonstrating poetic inquiry as a methodological and ethical innovation, this study expands analytic possibilities for research on caregiving and aging and is generative for future studies with underrepresented populations.