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Are you looking for caregiver resources? If so, you’ve come to the right place.
Family caregivers often don’t know where to start in their search for tools to assist them with their caregiving responsibilities. But you can start here.
Licensed professionals and organizations working with family caregivers rely upon their knowledge and experience to provide support. They also appreciate handy tools that can be readily applied to the individual person and situation. Such tools can be found here.
I’ve spent decades serving as a family caregiver, working with caregivers and care organizations, and studying caregiving as a phenomenon of social science. Over time, I’ve assembled an array of resources for caregivers and the professionals who support them.
Last week someone described this collection of resources as a caregiver resources library.
Well, yes. I had never thought about it that way before. Perhaps that’s because the caregiver resources library was built through piecemeal releases of useful things on the Caregiving Kinetics website.
You might ask: what types of resources for caregivers are available in this library? Below I’ve grouped them into five categories:
1. Caregiver Self Assessments: These tools enable caregivers to evaluate how they’re doing and the impact caregiving is having on them:
- The Emotions Worksheet from Caregiving Kinetics—an exercise that can reveal the emotional impact of continued caregiving.
- The Caregiver Health Self-Assessment from the American Medical Association—a tool that enables caregivers to assess their behavior and health-related risks.
- The Zarit Burden Interview Self-Assessment—an instrument that allows caregivers to measure their degree of caregiver burden.
2. Caregiving Models: These are designed to frame the caregiving experience and provide opportunities for reflection, discussion, and problem solving. The family caregiver may use a model as the basis for self-examination, or a professional may use a model to explore a situation with a client.
- The Caregiver Resilience Model—Views family caregiving through a lens defined by roles, relationships, realities, rewards, and readiness.
- The Pattern of Caregiver Development Model—Describes the process by which a family member learns to fulfill an emerging caregiver role.
- The Caregiver Mindshift Model—Depicts the cognitive shifts in attitudes or assumptions that family caregivers experience over time.
3. Caregiving Worksheets: These can be used as tools for discussion during therapy sessions, caregiver support groups, or workshops. They’re great takeaways, too—I’ve also used them as handouts in connection with professional presentations.
- Worksheet for the Caregiver Resilience Model
- Worksheet for the Pattern of Caregiver Development
- Worksheet for the Caregiver Mindshift Model
- Worksheet on How to Support a Family Caregiver
- Worksheet for Charting the Caregiving Experience
- “The Caregiver,” a Downloadable Poem
4. Caregiving Book: When Caregiving Calls: Guidance as You Care for a Parent, Spouse, or Aging Relative is an award-winning book that has helped thousands of family caregivers and has been used by caregiver support groups across the world. Kirkus Reviews said the book offers “candid, compassionate, and comforting caregiving advice.”
5. Tool for Engagement/Social Interaction: This resource can be especially meaningful in the context of dementia care. Chat Starters for Family Caregivers contains over 100 pages of conversation prompts to help caregivers and care receivers make the most of their time together. I’m proud to have partnered with the Duet Meaning & Hope Institute to make this publicly available as a free resource.
Most of the materials and information in the caregiver resources library have been developed by yours truly, except when otherwise indicated. Whether you’re looking for caregiver self-assessments, caregiving models, caregiving worksheets, a caregiving book, or a tool to engage with someone who has dementia, you will find something useful here.
I’m happy to offer the caregiver resources library online to you. These tools have been shown to be helpful to family caregivers, licensed professionals who offer support, and others such as employers, policymakers, and researchers. I believe that many of these resources are especially valuable because they can apply across the full range of caregiving situations.
If you’d like to collaborate with me in presenting any of these resources to your group, please let me know.
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Dr. Aaron Blight is committed to providing caregiver support and solutions for leaders. He also speaks to groups all over the world. If you wish to learn more about how he can help your organization or event, please contact us.
Posted in Caregiving
