More and more people are being pressed into service as caregivers for their siblings, parents, or spouses with Alzheimer's Disease or other dementia. With this caregiving role comes added stress and a difficult adjustment period for what begins as a part-time role and can become an unexpected career. Profile in Caregiving: The Unexpected Career is a practical source of information for anyone who teaches caregiving, acts as a caregiver, or studies caregiving. It is the first book that provides a research investigation into the factors associated with effective caregiving to dementia patients.
This landmark work traces the experience of husbands, wives, daughters, and sons in the caregiving role, identifying common stress factors and discussing how stress affects the caregiver's physical and emotional well-being.
Examines the five major phases of caregiving:
* Acquisition of role as caregiver
* In-home care
* Institutional care
* Bereavement (patient death)
* Social reintegration of caregiver
* Conceptualizes caregiving as a multistage career whose impact on the caregiver continues to be felt after in-home care has ceased.
* Based upon a longitudinal survey of a demographically diverse sample of principal caregivers over a three-year period
* Identifies caregivers who are most at-risk for adverse adaptation to the role
* Describes preventative and clinical intervention strategies
* Identifies post-care risk and issues