By Jane E. Brody in the New York Times:

It’s estimated that between 20 million and 50 million family members in the United States are serving as caregivers to people who are unable to care for themselves, providing an estimated $237 billion in unpaid services each year.

A recent report from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that most of these people have more than a full-time job taking care of their loved ones, yet fewer than 5 percent of them used caregiver support groups or respite care. Studies have also found that the stress of caregiving can increase a person’s risk of depression and anxiety, and result in a greater incidence of hospitalizations. An excerpt:

… Family caregivers must be emotionally prepared for outbursts from patients who, in anger or frustration, may accuse them of not doing enough or not doing things right. The best response is to ignore the charges and simply say, “How can I make you more comfortable?” But there are days when even the best caregiver cannot muster the best response. Those are the days to rely on whatever network you have to give yourself a break.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 5:33 pm and is filed under caregivers, chronic illness, families, health aides/direct support workers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.