Practicals: Caregiver Assessments
Hey Hey Caregivers,
Welcome back to this series about the practical things or steps we can take to help reduce the fatigue from caregiving as we start 2023. Today we are talking about assessments made for caregivers. Before we really dive into it, I want to highlight a few great things that can come from completing one of these assessments. First, they can help you to clearly understand which areas of caregiving are the most challenging or adding the most stress. By better understanding which areas of caregiving are causing the most difficulties, we can better problem-solve and work towards making things better. And third, they can also highlight areas where things are going well and can serve as a great reminder for what areas bring you great joy in your caregiving occupation.
So now that I've given a little bit of context as to what we want to accomplish with thinking about caregiver assessments this week, I'll start by highlighting some key themes or areas that caregiver assessments often cover. My idea behind this is that even just thinking through these different categories or areas of caregiving responsibility may spark in you what areas are the most draining or which areas are actually going really well (maybe).
Common Themes:
Caregiving Tasks: How involved are cares? What is the time commitment? How frequently do you need to complete cares?
What formal services are you/your care recipient utilizing? How are those relationships going?
How functional is the care recipient's house set up?
How many different responsibilities do you have in caregiving? How demanding are they?
How are finances right now?
How is your physical and mental health? Are you making time to care for yourself?
How are your relationships? What is your support system like?
What plans need to be made for the future? How does it feel to plan for the future?
Some practical steps forward:
Maybe you are experiencing significant challenges in one or all of these areas of caregiving. If so, you may be wondering about what practical next steps you can take. Here are some of my recommendations.
Caregiving tasks are very involved and very frequent: Talk with your care recipient's medical provider about caregiving fatigue and burden or burnout. Together you can problem-solve ways to make the load a bit lighter. Another great resource can be an occupational therapist who can help you and your care recipient to create rhythms and routines that work well to reduce the intensity of care on the caregiver and also work well for the care recipient to have their needs met.
Not really utilizing formal services, caregiving is taking up a significant portion of your time, finances are struggling: Talk with your care recipient's social worker about increasing or adding personal care assistant or respite hours to help you have more rest and time to take care of your own physical, mental, and relational health. Your social worker can also help to get more of the medical equipment or medication costs covered if you are struggling to provide for your care recipient too.
Not having a functional house and/or car set up: Talk with your care recipient's medical provider about these concerns to obtain a referral for equipment needs, and occupational therapy to help order and determine what can be done to make the environmental modifications.
Your physical, mental, and/or relational health are struggling: Make a plan for how you can take care of yourself each day. Even spending just five minutes before bed in prayer, stretching, or keeping a gratitude journal can make a tremendous difference in your life. Another option could be to find a support group to help you get connected with other caregivers to spend time relating with (many medical providers and social workers will have information for these groups, as well as local churches or community centers). If things really aren't going well, please reach out to your medical provider, your care recipient's medical provider, or your care recipient's case manager.
If planning for the future is scary or stressful for you: First, know that you are not alone. Second, this is something that your care recipient's medical team (doctors, social workers, OTs, and mental health providers) would love to chat with you about, you just may need to start the conversation. Asking questions about what their condition or needs may look like six months, a year, or even five years from now is a great place to start. Additionally, back to those support groups - getting involved in a community with others who have walked down similar paths to you can provide great mentorship and preparation for what the future may look like and what various options might be for you and your care recipient. Please know there is no shame or guilt in exploring and understanding all of your options as you move forward.
Some Assessments:
Do you want to dive deeper into caregiver assessments? Here are a few free, online versions of these assessments.
I hope this article brought you at least a bit of clarity on what your strengths and challenges are as it relates to caregiving. Please know there are so many people who care for you and your situation and want to support you. If you are struggling in your caregiving role, please reach out to someone on your care recipient's medical team, school/day program, or social work. Let's take steps forward in making things more manageable this year.
If you have any tips or recommendations for resources or other practicals for caregivers, leave a comment so we can all grow together!