Caregiving is accepted as a natural part of life and is recognized as an inherent responsibility within the American Indian/Alaskan Native Community. A qualitative analysis was conducted employing constant comparative method to explain the current status of the Native American Caregiver Support Program (NACSP) funded by Title VI-C grants. The NACSP (Title VI-C) of the Older Americans Act (OAA) is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Administration on Aging (AoA). The NACSP allows each tribal organization to develop a program to deliver supportive services that are tailored to the needs of their caregiver\u27s while providing five basic types of services: information, assistance, counseling, respite, and supplemental services. This study was guided by four objectives 1) To understand the successes and barriers that Tribal organizations have faced in the design, administration, and implementation of their Caregiver Support Program; 2) To determine if the Native American Caregiver Program, supported by Title VI-C grants, is operating according to the legislative intent; 3) To discover the degree to which the five required components are being fulfilled; and 4) To ascertain training and technical assistance needs. Consistently revealed throughout the interviews was the interplay of key factors. Instrumental in providing services to caregivers was a shared understanding among the funding agency, grantees, and consumers of the supportive services. Moreover, the level of understanding also affected trust, training, and other resources. These factors were crucial in determining the success of individual programs as well as difficulties experienced by other programs
