Caregiving: Research • Practice • Policy – serie

As people live longer and health care costs continue to rise and fewer doctors choose to specialize in geriatrics, how prepared is the United States to care for its sick and elderly? According to veteran psychologist Seymour Sarason’s eloquent and compelling new book, the answer is: inadequately at best. And rarely discussed among the grim statistics is the psychosocial price paid by nursing home patients, from loneliness and isolation to depression and dependency.In Centers for Ending, Dr. Sarason uses his firsthand experience as both practitioner and patient in senior facilities to reveal wide-ranging professional and moral issues affecting this seemingly familiar terrain. Insensitive medical personnel, poorly trained nurses and aides, indifferent administrators, and a prevailing culture content with treating “bodies” instead of human beings are identified as contributing factors. Drawing on America’s rich history of large-scale solutions to social problems, Dr. Sarason offers penetrating insights and bold suggestions in such areas as:The widening care gap between haves and have-nots.Why professional caregivers fail to understand patients.The nursing home resident as immigrant.Why previous reform efforts have not worked.The need for a Presidential commission for the elderly.The scenario if conditions are allowed to remain as they are or worsen.This concise volume is essential reading for researchers, graduate students, professionals, practitioners, and policy makers across such fields as geriatric medicine, health psychology, social work, public health, and public policy.  Centers for Ending is a clarion call to be ignored at great cost to our elders and ourselves.

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.

Covering a range of issues unique to rural care provision, from training to policy and advocacy, this work identifies specific needs for development and examines both the positive effects of close-knit families and the issue of access to professional support.

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.

Covering a range of issues unique to rural care provision, from training to policy and advocacy, this work identifies specific needs for development and examines both the positive effects of close-knit families and the issue of access to professional support.

Despite advances in detection and treatment, cancer remains a source of pain and distress to patients and of complex challenges to the loved ones caring for them. The trend toward shorter hospital stays in particular has increased the physical, psychological, and financial burden on caregivers, often leading to adverse effects on patients.Cancer Caregiving in the United States illuminates these complex concerns with authoritative detail. This wide-ranging volume provides a comprehensive survey of cancer-related issues, including those affecting the care triad (patients-family members- professionals) and quality of care as well as the numerous physical, emotional, and financial challenges that caregivers may need to confront. Sources of caregiver difficulty at each stage of the disease, from diagnosis to end of life, are explored. Each chapter analyzes its topic in terms of practice, research, education, and policy, providing a wealth of literature reviews, assessment and care models, interventions, and recommendations for future study and practice. Coverage includes:Caregiving issues for cancer patients with long-term, short-term, and intermittent needs.Family caregivers as members of the treatment team.The impact of health disparities on caregivers.Cancer care policy and advocacy.End-of-life issues for cancer caregivers.Legal, financial, and ethical issues.  Cancer Caregiving in the United States is a core reference for researchers, professionals/scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in such caregiving fields as clinical psychology, social work, nursing, public health and medicine, social policy, and educational policy.

Caring for people with disabilities often becomes an all-encompassing responsibility for one or more family members. To manage the multifaceted demands, caregivers must possess strong multitasking skills, including the ability to assist with daily life tasks; provide emotional support; help with financial affairs; mediate and advocate with health care providers. Maintaining balance within their own lives can become incredibly challenging for caregivers. More often than not, providing care for family members or loved ones occurs at the expense of the caregivers’ well-being. And for caregivers who themselves have disabilities, it further complicates matters.Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability addresses concerns that have been long familiar to the caregiver population and examines the current state of family care for individuals with disabilities. With a lifespan perspective, this concise reference reviews the literature on specific problems of caregivers and explores which care strategies are effective, promising, or lacking in available resources and support interventions. Contributors also explore the more fluid and subjective aspects of caregiving, such as feelings, spirituality, and family roles. Suggestions for future policy improvements, particularly within the public health sector, are discussed as well.Topics covered include:• Family dynamics and caregiving for people with disabilities.• Parent caregiving of children with disabilities.• Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and caregiving.• Educational, training, and support programs for caregivers.• Emerging technologies to aid caregivers.• Developing partnerships between caregivers and health care providers.Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability is a must-have resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, policy makers, and graduate students across such disciplines as clinicalpsychology, nursing, social work, public health, medicine, and social and education policy.

Assisting someone with Alzheimer’s disease or another illness that causes dementia is incredibly demanding and stressful for the family. Like many disabling conditions, Alzheimer’s disease leads to difficulty or inability to carry out common activities of daily life, and so family members take over a variety of tasks ranging from managing the person’s finances to helping with intimate activities such as bathing and dressing.Key coverage in Caregiving for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders includes:Early diagnosis and family dynamicsEmotional needs of caregiversDevelopmentally appropriate long-term care for people with Alzheimer’sFamily caregivers as members of the Alzheimer’s treatment TeamLegal and ethical issues for caregiversFaith and spiritualityThe economics of caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s diseaseCultural, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic issues of minority caregiversAdvances in Alzheimer’s disease researchCaregiving for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders 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.

Taking a developmental perspective, this book discusses caregiving from infancy through early childhood through end of life; midlife and multigenerational bonds and responsibilities; caregiver identity in older adults and family caregiving at the end of life.

The Challenges of Mental Health Caregiving

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.

Taking a developmental perspective, this book discusses caregiving from infancy through early childhood through end of life; midlife and multigenerational bonds and responsibilities; caregiver identity in older adults and family caregiving at the end of life.

Assisting someone with Alzheimer’s disease or another illness that causes dementia is incredibly demanding and stressful for the family. Like many disabling conditions, Alzheimer’s disease leads to difficulty or inability to carry out common activities of daily life, and so family members take over a variety of tasks ranging from managing the person’s finances to helping with intimate activities such as bathing and dressing.Key coverage in Caregiving for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders includes:Early diagnosis and family dynamicsEmotional needs of caregiversDevelopmentally appropriate long-term care for people with Alzheimer’sFamily caregivers as members of the Alzheimer’s treatment TeamLegal and ethical issues for caregiversFaith and spiritualityThe economics of caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s diseaseCultural, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic issues of minority caregiversAdvances in Alzheimer’s disease researchCaregiving for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders 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.

Despite advances in detection and treatment, cancer remains a source of pain and distress to patients and of complex challenges to the loved ones caring for them. The trend toward shorter hospital stays in particular has increased the physical, psychological, and financial burden on caregivers, often leading to adverse effects on patients.Cancer Caregiving in the United States illuminates these complex concerns with authoritative detail. This wide-ranging volume provides a comprehensive survey of cancer-related issues, including those affecting the care triad (patients-family members- professionals) and quality of care as well as the numerous physical, emotional, and financial challenges that caregivers may need to confront. Sources of caregiver difficulty at each stage of the disease, from diagnosis to end of life, are explored. Each chapter analyzes its topic in terms of practice, research, education, and policy, providing a wealth of literature reviews, assessment and care models, interventions, and recommendations for future study and practice. Coverage includes:Caregiving issues for cancer patients with long-term, short-term, and intermittent needs.Family caregivers as members of the treatment team.The impact of health disparities on caregivers.Cancer care policy and advocacy.End-of-life issues for cancer caregivers.Legal, financial, and ethical issues.  Cancer Caregiving in the United States is a core reference for researchers, professionals/scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in such caregiving fields as clinical psychology, social work, nursing, public health and medicine, social policy, and educational policy.

Caring for people with disabilities often becomes an all-encompassing responsibility for one or more family members. To manage the multifaceted demands, caregivers must possess strong multitasking skills, including the ability to assist with daily life tasks; provide emotional support; help with financial affairs; mediate and advocate with health care providers. Maintaining balance within their own lives can become incredibly challenging for caregivers. More often than not, providing care for family members or loved ones occurs at the expense of the caregivers’ well-being. And for caregivers who themselves have disabilities, it further complicates matters.Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability addresses concerns that have been long familiar to the caregiver population and examines the current state of family care for individuals with disabilities. With a lifespan perspective, this concise reference reviews the literature on specific problems of caregivers and explores which care strategies are effective, promising, or lacking in available resources and support interventions. Contributors also explore the more fluid and subjective aspects of caregiving, such as feelings, spirituality, and family roles. Suggestions for future policy improvements, particularly within the public health sector, are discussed as well.Topics covered include:• Family dynamics and caregiving for people with disabilities.• Parent caregiving of children with disabilities.• Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and caregiving.• Educational, training, and support programs for caregivers.• Emerging technologies to aid caregivers.• Developing partnerships between caregivers and health care providers.Multiple Dimensions of Caregiving and Disability is a must-have resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, policy makers, and graduate students across such disciplines as clinicalpsychology, nursing, social work, public health, medicine, and social and education policy.

This book examines the challenges of caregiving in mental health with unusual depth and breadth, covering developmental, cultural and spiritual contexts of care, and stressing the need to see care as a community, rather than an individual or family experience.