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Caregivers Count Too! Section 1: Getting Started

What Is the Caregivers Count Tool Toolkit?

This toolkit is a step-by-step resource filled with practical information and resources. It’s designed for program administrators and practitioners* to:

  • Sharpen your awareness of family caregivers as an at-risk population in need of assessments to determine their own physical, emotional and financial problems.
  • Give you new knowledge and skills so you can create and put to use a caregiver assessment that works in your particular practice setting.

The toolkit has four main sections:

  1. Getting Started – This first section that you’re in now, is an overview of the toolkit and who it’s for, and contains a list of definitions of terms used throughout.
  2. Vital & Vulnerable: Family Caregivers, the second section, focuses on the key role of family caregivers—who they are, what they do, and why knowing their needs is important. A list of additional resources we have found useful and sources used for statistics are also provided at the end of the section.
  3. Nuts & Bolts of Caregiver Assessment, our third section, provides a set of basic guidelines for conducting caregiver assessment including: recommended areas to cover and questions to include in a caregiver assessment; and answers to the “who, when, where and by whom” questions for implementing the assessment. A list of fundamental principles to guide practitioners in conducting caregiver assessments is also included.
  4. Wrapping Up is the fourth section; it summarizes the toolkit and provides three appendices with additional information including: six sample caregiver assessment tools, an annotated list of FCA publications relating to caregiver assessment (including FCA’s 2nd edition of Selected Caregiver Assessment Measures: A Resource Inventory for Practitioners (2012), and an annotated bibliography of caregiver assessment materials and journal articles.

Who Should Use This Toolkit?

*By program administrators and practitioners above, we mean professionals who works with older people and adults with disabilities, whether service is provided in the home, a hospital, a physician’s office, a nursing home or a program in the community. Some specific examples:

  • Social Service Providers (e.g., social workers, care managers, caregiver  specialists)
  • Medical and Health Providers (e.g, physicians, nurses, allied health  personnel)
  • Program Administrators (for hospitals, nursing homes, residential care facilities, etc.)

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