Lesson 21: Family, Caregiver, and Residential Care Attention Caring for the elderly at home can create a lot of strain on families...planning for the care of both the client and the needs of the family are essential. Learning Outcomes Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:
Teaching Without a doubt, the care and welfare of the elderly depends greatly upon the availability of family members to serve as caregivers. The degree to which family members take on these responsibilities is highly influenced by the cultural expectations of the family. Families, however, are increasingly dispersed and "busy" with jobs, childcare, and other responsibilities. While home-based care options are available, they fall short of the 24/7 that family members alone can provide. As Mental Health workers we know that the families of our clients can be available to meet diverse needs that exceed what agencies and funding provides. It behooves us to support the FAMILY members as much as we support the CLIENT. In fact, it might be more important to support the family member if that family member is all that stands between the client and institutionalization. When working with families it is important to asses characteristics of the family that will determine its ability to provide care and support:
Phases of Family Caregiving
Specific Factors related to Caregivers
When we recognize barriers that might exist to good care in the home, we may be able to intervene and help the caregivers understand what is happening. This takes relationship building with the family members.
Assessment Lesson 21 Discussion Pick one or more of the characteristics of families listed in the Lesson Plan and describe a personal experience with a family that would be challenged to provide good care to an older client. Discuss potential interventions based upon your reading. Lesson 21 Assignment You are working with an client who is older and has just moved in to live her daughter and son-in-law. They live in Portland, ME. Using only web-based resources, create a cheat-sheet of all the CAREGIVER resources that might be available to this family. Be sure to include both formal (agencies and services) and informal (church, support groups, etc.) supports. Your document should include your name at the top and a TABLE that lists the resource name and contact information and a brief description of what that resource might be used for. Here is an example and you may use these as starting points for your own table:
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