Caregivers

For many, caring for a chronically ill family member is “the right thing to do”, but it is also often a source of emotional hardship, physical stress, and social isolation. In response, skill-building, coping, and psychoeducational programs have emerged to help caregivers meet the changes and challenges in their – as well as the patients’ – lives. Education and Support Programs for Caregivers reveals the diversity of the caregiver population as well as their experiences and needs, and it introduces an empirically solid framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating caregiver programs. The book synthesizes current trends, exploring the effectiveness of different types of programs (e.g., clinic, community, home based) and groups (e.g., peer, professional, self-help), and how supportive programs lead to improved care. Coverage includes: Improving service delivery of education and support programs to underserved caregivers. Cultural, ethnic, and gender issues in conducting caregiver education and support groups. Utilization patterns (e.g., a key to understanding service needs). E-health, telehealth, and other technological developments in caregiver services. Evaluating the effectiveness and sustainability of programs. Recommendations for future practice, training, policy, and advocacy. Education and Support Programs for Caregivers offers a wealth of insights and ideas for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students across the caregiving fields, including psychology, social work, public health, geriatrics and gerontology, and medicine as well as public and education policy makers.

Learn how family caregivers of people with dementia can be supported by psychotherapy Provides step-by-step guidance for face-to-face or remote therapy Illustrated with therapeutic dialogs from real cases Includes downloadable intervention handouts This handbook addresses the extremely challenging situation that family caregivers of people with dementia face and is informed by the use of evidence-based psychotherapeutic strategies to support them. The book guides readers step-by step through effective therapeutic strategies, mainly based on cognitive-behavioral therapy, and illustrated with excerpts of dialogs between therapists and family caregivers from real sessions. Different modules address topics such as dealing with challenging behavior, self-care, perfectionism and guilt, as well as changes in the relationship with the ill person, barriers to seeking social and professional support, stress management and emotion regulation, accepting one's own limits, and dealing with institutionalization. These modules can be put together to meet different individuals' needs. Particular emphasis is placed on creating a positive therapeutic alliance, resource activation, and helping caregivers develop the motivation for change. Finally, multiple handouts that can be used in clinical practice are available for download. The intervention is suitable for various settings, including face-to-face therapy or remote forms such as telephone or online therapy. This manual is ideal for clinical psychologists, gerontologists, psychotherapists, social workers, and counsellors working with people with dementia and their families.

This book builds on the current trends in informal caregivers’ role in the supportive care of cancer patients (as well as other diseases) across the care continuum covering topics from the healthcare professionals and the users’ perspectives. Informal caregivers are a critical resource to their care recipients and an essential component of the health care system. The book introduces a comprehensive view of the topic and acknowledges the importance and the complexity of caregiving. Here lays one of the uniqueness of this book, which highlights the areas and the ways that for example interventions in specific settings/groups of patients can actually facilitate the caregiving process. The increasing number of care-dependent people, the adoption of the principle “outpatient before inpatient”, the shift of care from inpatient to outpatient and the preference for home care (i.e. majority) are only some of the reasons that contributed to Informal caregiving becoming a central feature of the health care landscape and will become even more prominent in the decades ahead. The book draws on the experts’ high-end, current systematic research evidence and real-life examples on these topics to provide an insightful perspective on undertaking research within this context, and to demonstrate informal caregivers’ impact on patients’ outcomes. The structure of the book provides multiple perspectives to the topic and makes it appealing to a wide range of recipients including the nursing community, clinicians, social workers, researchers, policy makers, technology experts as well as postgraduate students especially to those practicing specifically in supportive care in cancer. The book fills a gap in this field of expertise not only by familiarizing the reader with a wide range of topics to be considered but it also emphasizes on what the developments in the field in the future would need to take into consideration. Finally, current and future studies can be informed from the practices of preceding studies that are incorporated in the book.

Effective, meaningful caregiving requires a well-coordinated and informed effort guided by various highly skilled specialists across several interrelated professions, including psychologists, social workers, and occupational therapists. Multidisciplinary Coordinated Caregiving addresses the information needs of these interrelated professionals, contributing to the direct care of individuals and serving as an essential resource for those who ultimately create collaborative approaches to contemporary caregiving plans. In addition, the volume provides a wealth of evidence-based research findings to facilitate ongoing dialogue about multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives on and interventions for the complex challenge of caregiving in America. Key areas of coverage include: The status of professional caregiving in the United States. Nursing perspectives on the state of family caregiving. Psychological aspects of caregiving. A human development, lifespan perspective on caregiving during late life. Public health contributions to caregiving. Multidisciplinary Coordinated Caregiving offers a wealth of insights for those researchers, practitioners, and graduate students who seek to optimize the care of individuals across such fields as psychology, social work, public health, geriatrics and gerontology, and medicine as well as public and educational policy making.

Groundbreaking information for caregivers—and those receiving care It is more common now than ever before for partners, family members, and friends to provide informal care, yet caregiving in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities has received little attention. Caregiving with Pride is the pioneering examination of caregiving experiences in the LGBT population. This important text also provides a frank discussion of the issues involved in needing and receiving care as well. Comprehensive and up-to-date, this both a timely account of an important field and practical information for implementing change. Unique in its focus and scope, Caregiving with Pride offers readers original research and new summaries and analyses of existing literature. With a wide-ranging approach that is both readable and enlightening, this essential collection recognizes the changing nature of families as central to the issues of caregiving and LGBT communities. It features articles that insist on and illustrate the importance of taking both identity issues and socio-cultural policy contexts of caregiving into account. While maintaining a multifaceted biopsychosocial perspective that is critical to understanding the varied aspects of this topic, contributors discuss: the prevalence of caregiving with LGBT communities health issues and the needs of those requiring care the unique risk and protective factors impacting HIV/AIDS caregivers the psychological effects - positive and negative - of caregiving family and personal - “chosen family” - relationships interactions with formal systems of health and long-term care effects of history and social stigma on those needing and giving care how current social policies impede LGBT people in their access to care the ways established medical guidelines hinder LGBT caregivers in their efforts to help existing interventions and opportunities to better sever these communities and much more! While Caregiving with Pride provides a detailed perspective of the current state of this often overlooked field, it also looks ahead and outlines a practical, useable blueprint for future research, services, and policies in marginalized communities. As an informative stand-alone resource, Caregiving with Pride is essential for gerontologists, sociologists, historians, social workers, psychologists, educators, researchers, and policy makers. In addition, this collection is ideal as a supplementary text for students of aging, women studies, GLBT studies, sociology, and health studies as well as the larger GLBT community.

By bringing together contributions from the fields of gerontology and developmental disabilities, the editor of this volume makes an important statement about the need for collaborative and multidisciplinary research to be conducted in this area, and for the developmental disabilities service system and the aging network to work together to support these caregivers and their family members with developmental disabilities. --American Journal on Mental Retardation The shift from institutional to community-based care for individuals with developmental disabilities and their increase in longevity has resulted in more and more elderly serving as primary caregivers for adults with developmental disabilities. The Elderly Caregiver addresses the predominate issues and concerns confronting these older caregivers. By bringing together the empirical work of researchers from a variety of disciplines, this volume provides insight into the physical, psychological, and social needs of this growing segment of the population. Contributors explore the needs of elderly parents caring for adult children with mental retardation, changes in their caregiving activities, the increasing burden of caregiving, and the ordeal of facing their own frailties while planning future out-of-home placement for their children. Additional chapters focus on the needs of caregivers of aging adults with Down syndrome and Alzheimer′s disease. Finally, case management is examined from the perceptions of family members as well as case managers themselves. A concluding chapter draws together the implications for the future directions for practice, policy, and research. Unique in its presentation, The Elderly Caregiver is invaluable to researchers, practitioners and advanced students in aging, health/rehabilitation, social work, and family studies. "Not only does the author provide insight into some of the physical, social, and psychological needs of these [developmentally disabled] adults, she explores certain needs of the elderly parents who are facing their own aging problems. This accessible book is geared for caregivers, providers, family members, and professionals involved with older adults who have developmental disabilities. . . . This book offers highly practical advice of use to a wide variety of readers, including the caregivers, professionals, and health care providers concerned with adults having these disabilities." --Academic Library Book Review "In addition to enlightening the reader with its contemporary knowledge of the field, the text is well organized and includes some of the most impressive empirical work conducted in this area. As well, it provides some good suggestions for future research. . . . The work provides a comprehensive perspective on family caregivers, aging caregivers, and the aging of people with developmental disabilities who are recipients of care. . . . At a time when numerous books on deinstitutionalization, community care of the mentally ill, and the intellectually impaired are appearing on the market, it is a great pleasure to see a book that is well-rounded. . . . I recommend this book as a valuable text for researchers, practitioners, and students of gerontology. Further, it will serve as an invaluable book for caregivers themselves. It has undoubtedly made a significant contribution in the field." --The Canadian Health Psychologist "...This collection fills a significant unmet need, and can be related to other caregiving situations. It is an up-to-date and very readable book, for practitioners and policy makers as well as researchers and educators. Families should also find it useful. ...The topic is a timely example of the need for service integration in our aging society. This collection helps to address their needs and those of their children by applying theory, suggesting additional research, and making specific practice and policy recommendations." --Contemporary Gerontology