Why Should We Assess the Needs of Family Caregivers?
Assessment builds caregiver morale and capacity:
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Caregivers who have their needs assessed feel acknowledged, valued, and better understood by practitioners.
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Caregivers gain a better grasp of their role and the abilities required to carry out tasks.
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If the physical, emotional and financial strains on family caregivers become too great, care in the home may be seriously jeopardized.
It’s the key to care planning:
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Identifying service needs and unresolved problems is fundamental to a plan that supports and strengthens the family as a whole, where most care is given and received.
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Caregiver strain and health risks can impede the caregiver’s ability to provide care, lead to higher health care costs, and affect the quality of life for caregivers and those for whom they care.
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The well-being of the family caregiver is often key to the care recipient’s getting the help needed at home or in the community—rather than placement in a nursing home.
It opens doors for the caregiver and the care recipient:
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Assessment can establish eligibility for useful services, supporting the caregiver and the care recipient.
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Knowing caregiver needs and preferences triggers timely referrals.
It’s a way to monitor program effectiveness and to inform policy:
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Information from caregivers reveals what works and what does not.
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Caregiver feedback helps assure quality of care.
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Patterns seen across caregivers and over time reveal gaps and priorities for new programs and better policies.
Commonly held misperceptions about including family members in the assessment process stand in the way of recognizing, understanding and meeting caregivers’ needs. Some of these are:
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MYTH
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REALITY
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1. The caregiver isn’t my client. Besides, this would be an intrusion into the caregiver’s time and privacy.
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Illness is a "family affair." Most caregivers appreciate the assessment process and view it as an opportunity to express their own needs and have their situation taken seriously.
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2. If I talk to family members, I won’t have time to complete my other responsibilities.
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Assessments need not be lengthy or duplicate information already collected. Done correctly, the assessment process results in a more efficient use of time. Caregivers may provide significant insight into the patient’s situation, identify important issues that might have been overlooked and improve the focus of information collected.
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3. I won’t have the answers or resources to deal with a caregiver’s additional issues.
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Avoiding or excluding caregiver issues leads to a bigger problem. It is possible to work creatively with caregivers to tailor use of limited resources, the most important thing is that the caregiver feels listened to and acknowledged.
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4. The assessment process will interfere with the natural flow of the clinical process and get in the way of my ability to develop a trusting rapport.
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An assessment tool is a framework to guide the conversation and assure that vital information is collected consistently. However, the clinician does not have to rigidly follow the order and wording, or ask a question that does not apply.
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5. Assessments are only used for research purposes and don’t help a person who needs services.
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When linked to a care plan with service interventions, assessment can point to particular services; reassessment can track progress and identify needed changes to the interventions.
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