Bøker i Family Caregiver Applications series-serien

This book analyzes the phenomenon of family care for three populations of adult dependents with chronic disabilities: adults with developmental disabilities; adults with serious, persistent mental illness; and the frail elderly. Family care of relatives spanning the life course and across cultures is emphasized.

Examining caregiving issues from a multigenerational, family life cycle perspective, this volume deals with the broad spectrum of chronic illnesses that necessitate family caregiving throughout the lifespan and discusses responses to these challenges by both caregiving families and caregiving systems.Part One addresses the caregiving paradigm and the relationship of family caregiving research to family life studies. Part Two examines conceptual aspects of caregiving, ranging from the expansion of the caregiving paradigm, caregiving processes and tasks, to the positive aspects of caregiving. Part Three emphasizes how family caregivers are affected by the connection (or lack of it) to macro-level systems.

Exploring how caregivers juggle their responsibilities of work and family, the authors of this volume suggest that dependant care needs to be addressed as a corporate, family and community concern. Drawing from literature as well as from their own extensive research, they present a thorough investigation of the stress factors experienced by workers caught between the frequently conflicting demands of these two roles. Policies, benefits and services reviewed range from approaches that intervene in the caregiving process to those that change the world of work with such alternatives as flexible working hours, child-care facilities and tax credits for dependant care.

With the trend of deinstitutionalization, family members are finding themselves increasingly in the position of primary caregivers to mentally ill adults - a role for which they are often untrained and unprepared. This volume explores the experiences of these caregivers.The author: discusses the characteristics and conceptual models related to mental illness; surveys the experience of mental illness in the context of the family life cycle and developmental stages of the illness; appraises the burdens on the family including social stigma, refusal of treatment, stress and the relationship between the mentally ill and caregivers within the family; and reviews family responses including coping strategies and professional and nonclinical services available to families.In addition, cultural factors affecting family caregiving are related in an international context. Legal and ethical barriers to care are looked at in detail, as are alternative models of family caregiving, including the growth of consumer-run services.