Caregivers Can Develop Good Relationships

When ii people commit to spending their lives together, information technology's a moment of celebration. They often envision settling into a home together, maybe growing a family unit, going on adventures, exploring shared passions and hobbies, and celebrating major milestones. It's a hopeful acknowledgement of all the wonderful things life has to offer—and ofttimes neglects the real and raw challenges that can arise forth the style.

Becoming a caregiver for your partner is rarely included on a person's list of futurity-facing fantasies, only it occurs far more ofttimes than most realize. An estimated half-dozen.36 million U.Due south. adults ages 18 and older are considered caregivers to their partners, according to the Caregiving in the U.Due south. 2020 report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving ^[ane] Caregiving in the U.Southward. 2020 Study. AARP and National Brotherhood for Caregiving. Accessed 3/8/2022. . And while specific care needs vary dramatically from couple to couple, ane thing is certain: Caregiving can flip your existing human relationship dynamic upside downward.

Every bit a lodge, we tend to push the topics of disease, dependency and ultimately death as far away every bit possible, as if these elements of the life bicycle are somehow less valid or valuable than the ones we deem more than positive and productive. Simply here at Forbes Health, we are holding infinite for this of import narrative despite the discomfort and fear it tends to trigger.

It's our goal to assistance and support existing caregivers who are looking to strike a better balance between their clinical responsibilities and their role as a loved one, equally well as people who want to be amend prepared for whatever caregiving experience may present itself in the time to come.

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Life Earlier Disease: The Foundation of Your Relationship

While some couples begin their life journeying together with chronic illness or inability as office of the picture, those who experience it downwards the route are frequently surprised by how it affects the means in which they think, feel, behave and communicate with each other. It'south easy to blame the caregiver experience for unwanted changes in the relationship, only that tendency misses the root cause.

The reality is the foundation of a human relationship—before the introduction of an illness, deterioration or disability—provides the roots for how the care partner and care receiver experience life together thereafter. The couple'due south dynamic is nigh often amplified—not modified—by the caregiving feel, explains Brenda Gurung, a dementia specialist, senior living expert and 2022 Forbes Health Advisory Board fellow member. The relationship itself is their crystal brawl.

"Yous have to ask yourself: Outside the caregiver experience, what kind of couple were you lot in the first place?" she says. "Alzheimer's [disease] and dementia in particular open all the closets and pull out all the skeletons—everything repressed, everything yous said you lot weren't going to do or become—which then makes it an even more than nuanced experience. Every relationship is truly unique in its partnership, its dynamic, your histories, how you come together, your gender roles and norms you do and don't have. That makes your caregiving experience entirely your ain."

Caregiving Is The Ultimate Relationship Challenge. Here's How To Reclaim Your Love And Yourself Through It All

Linda Keilman, a gerontological nurse, Michigan State University College of Nursing kinesthesia member and 2022 Forbes Health Advisory Board member, echoes the sentiment that a caregiving experience is very much dependent on the kind of relationship the partners have. "Relationships run the gamut as far as why people are together, and sometimes when a caregiving situation arises, it doesn't fit in with the partner'southward—or maybe even both of the partners'—visions or hopes for the hereafter," she says. "It's non something one of them signed up for; it's not in their plan."

Plans aside, caregiving is one of the hardest jobs a person tin can ever take on, says Keilman. "People have no thought how difficult information technology is—it really is 24/7, and not everyone is cutting out for information technology," she says. "The more dependent they go, the more involved the caregiver has to be, and it gets to be very, very difficult. It's a commitment that requires 100%, and it really is well-nigh a partnership."

Only no relationship is perfect, reminds Judy Ho, Ph.D., a triple board-certified and licensed clinical and forensic neuropsychologist and 2022 Forbes Health Advisory Board member. "And conspicuously something this stressful is going to bring out the biggest bug a relationship already had before reaching this stage," she says.

Regardless of whether y'all're at the kickoff of your caregiver journey, reflecting on the early days or anticipating what could come, information technology helps to start from a place of honesty, grace and compassion with your partner and yourself, says Dr. Ho. "Any relationship, even one that'due south really healthy, would accept so many difficulties navigating this transition. But it can be an opportune fourth dimension to address some of the things you perhaps haven't dealt with before to provide a amend pathway to a closer, more intimate and more fulfilling human relationship for both parties." That piece of work requires intent and investment, simply tin make the moments that follow significantly easier.

How Caregiving Shifts Partner Dynamics

Caregiving is a function and responsibility experienced by nearly every generation in the U.S., even when nosotros focus on people caring for their partners specifically. For some, care needs are brusque-term, such as navigating recovery and rehabilitation from surgery or an astute affliction. For others facing chronic, degenerative and concluding illnesses, they are indefinite. And the more a partner's care needs evolve over time, the more than the human relationship betwixt them and their caregiver can morph, placing greater accent on medical demands than love and intimacy.

"At the beginning, the [care] partner oftentimes says, 'Yes, of grade, I'll step upwards to this [task],' but they don't always know the toll the process can take," explains Gurung. They may make promises to provide care in certain means—vowing to never movement their partner to a nursing home, for instance—when they aren't necessarily in a identify to make that commitment for the entirety of their journey. They too experience the immense emotional weight of questions like:

How long is this experience going to last?
What is the end going to expect like?
Am I going to lose this person?
Volition I exist able to maintain my own identity at the end?

Information technology's likely that the couple volition also experience significant role transitions as one partner grows increasingly dependent on the other, says Dr. Ho. "People settle into a certain dynamic, and when in that location's a renegotiation of that function, information technology tin can exist very difficult for both parties to mourn their former roles in the relationship and effort to navigate the new ones considering they're not used to relating to each other in that way, and that can even cause conflict," she says. "You accept to really take your fourth dimension to settle into information technology and mourn the past relationship and dynamic, and then effort to accept as much direct communication about those difficulties as possible and so the human relationship tin stay healthy."

Meanwhile, the caregiver is also providing the literal care their partner needs. Unsurprisingly, these mental, physical and emotional demands can compound over time to create a single, all-consuming experience that overshadows the other elements of life that aid them relish who they are with the person they love virtually.

"The reality is that when y'all're loving someone, there tin can be a blurred line between needing to provide medical care and wanting to exist a supportive spouse or partner," says Rufus Tony Spann, Ph.D., a licensed professional advisor and 2022 Forbes Health Informational Board member. "Over time, nosotros tin can get very routine in how we're helping," he explains. "It becomes more of a position or chore that we're taking on." Meanwhile, Spann adds, the care receiver often wants to exist seen and loved by their partner for who they were before the onset of their affliction or condition—not equally someone in need.

When Caregiver Burnout Strikes, Love Suffers

As a person'due south intendance needs span months and fifty-fifty years, probable intensifying with the progression of affliction, their partner can feel over extended between the abiding juggling human activity of managing their partner'south health, maintaining their own health and nurturing the relationship itself—and that'southward just within the confines of the couple. Caregiver exhaustion, an overwhelming feeling of emotional exhaustion, is an all-too-common result of this constant strain.

"Intendance partnerships get all-consuming, and the to the lowest degree important person becomes the person providing the care," says Keilman. Still, caregivers don't often realize this shift because they're so focused on providing quality intendance to their partner, she adds.

"I've heard some describe caregiving as caretaking, and there's some truth to that—there's someone taking your care from you and so you can't share it with other people," says Belinda Gordon-Boxing, a licensed clinical therapist and 2022 Forbes Health Advisory Board member. "I've also heard the term labor of love—labor being emphasized—because this is a job. A caregiver works every solar day, mentally, physically and emotionally, from the time they wake upwards in the morning until they can take a nap at night, because it is just a nap. Oftentimes, equally a caregiver, you don't get that continuous six, 7, 8 hours of sleep, and it's not quality sleep."

The level of hyper-sensation that oftentimes comes with being a caregiver for a partner—managing their health status, daily care needs, doctor appointments, prescription refills, insurance company communications, dwelling house health adjutant schedules and more—can go incredibly taxing. And ultimately, both partners endure.

"When a caregiver is getting to that burnout point and they're getting really snappy, losing patience and willingness to mind, from the intendance receiver's perspective, information technology can appear that they aren't able to see where they are [in their own journeying], and it feels more like an aggression toward them," says Gurung. "I encounter it trickle down so often, especially around really intimate care similar bathing help or bathroom assistance."

"If I'm the caregiver and I'm in a space of frustration, there'south no way the actual care is going to go well, and and then the care receiver doesn't feel supported," she adds. "And it's emotionally removed—plough off the emotion to get the job washed. When y'all become stuck in that identify for too long, it'due south harder to bring the partner chemical element back into the mix."

The function so many caregivers are forced to assume—that of a home nurse—further detracts from any potential for intimacy. "Intendance partners often learn what nurses larn in years of classes overnight out of necessity to keep their partner condom," says Keilman.

"They're given this championship—yous must be the nurse in the home—and that is such a demanding title," echoes Gordon-Battle. "That's when I run into burnout occur—when we're not realistic near what we really tin can provide for our loved ones, when yous cannot become the nurse or exist the nurse."

Exhaustion is a very real miracle in caregivers, specially in situations of chronic illness, explains Dr. Ho. It's highly stressful, adds Keilman, which can cause physical symptoms like high blood force per unit area, headaches, gastrointestinal bug and even hurting.

Depression is a major consequence equally well. Research shows care partners experience depression at college rates than non caregivers, says Keilman. "In that location's so many emotional struggles—guilt, anger, resentment…they're also experiencing anticipatory grief and loss, and they feel hopeless and powerless. A lot of times, the intendance partners themselves become ill," she says.

Equally these elements pile up, piffling room is left for the focal indicate: the couple and the magic that holds them together. Moments of kindness and pity, a sweet smile or a silly joke, a break in the menstruation of the day for human being connection are all so easily replaced by clinical routines and stressful to-exercise lists that never seem to shorten. While dear remains, information technology gets cached nether the weight of everything else.

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How to Stay Connected With Your Partner

There'due south no denying how challenging it is to balance the scales of partner and caregiver, but there are practical steps care partners can take to regain and maintain their connexion in their relationship amid stress, fright, grief and exhaustion.

Person Over Patient

It's easy to become so focused on caregiving that the care partner misses out on the simple moments they can still experience with their other one-half. "We really accept to exist conscientious considering sometimes we forget to focus on our ability to just be in that location with them and that they're still with united states," explains Spann. "Nosotros demand to make certain we're centering the person first and [exist enlightened of ] how we're treating them. Think this is somebody we dearest and fell in love with—it's less about them being a patient or someone who needs our help."

Gurung agrees. "Brand certain you offer them choices and ask their stance. No matter what they can share, they tin can experience acknowledged and included," shes says. "Assume the humanity and essence of the existence you've always known and work with them from that identify."

This focus helps keep an important sense of connection intact, notes Gordon-Battle. "If you keep giving them their moments, looking at them eye-to-eye and bringing experiences you know they savour into that space, it makes the person still feel a part of the unit," she says. "They'll feel less like a trouble and brunt. That'due south our caregiver responsibleness—to make that man connexion and maintain information technology through their affliction."

Learn More Most the Ailment

"Education sounds boring and like work to the caregiver, but it'south then disquisitional," says Gurung.

Have a dementia diagnosis, for example. "So much of guild thinks dementia relates exclusively to retentiveness and doesn't know how much more than it affects," she says. "But getting some applied education [well-nigh the condition] is going to do good your day-to-twenty-four hour period life with your partner because it helps y'all run into them where they are." And education comes in many forms across medical studies. "Lookout YouTube videos, follow experts on social media, lean into whatever you enjoy so you can blot the data," she adds.

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Redefine Intimacy

"Some people go into a clinical routine of caregiving and forget that you lot can still have a level of arousal, desire, connection and touch," explains Spann. "People still need that human component. It may be difficult to figure out how to do that when your partner has an illness or they're going through something y'all observe very technical, only when you're with your partner and providing care, there are still things you tin can do."

Spann encourages caregivers and their partners to look for times in which they can create romance or sensuality, fifty-fifty if it's every bit simple as a cuddle on the paw or a stroke of the neck. "The level of touch doesn't have to exist erotic—it can just be enough to brand the person experience human," he says, and that aforementioned value applies to the caregiver.

Intimacy tin can accept myriad forms, from touch to playing music to enjoying an activity together you previously plant grounding, says Spann. Notice what inspires a human connection, and permit clinical needs take a backset, even if merely for a cursory moment.

Communicate With Your Entire Trunk

Many intendance partners and care receivers witness how much an disease can change the ways in which they used to communicate with each other.

"In a majority of couples I've met who said, 'I don't know how to communicate with them anymore,' it's almost always because they're only focused on verbalization," says Gurung.

Instead, she suggests thinking about advice from a whole-body perspective. "I oft notice the visual aspects can really shift a couple, unless there are vision deficits, in which instance they do other things." She regularly recommends techniques like mirroring the other person, keeping word selection simple and being really expressive with trunk language to assistance overcome new advice obstacles.

Be Existent With Each Other

Sugarcoating the situation with endless optimism can often backfire in caregiving situations. Despite the best of intentions, it's disingenuous and can rob both the care partner and care receiver of much-needed space to feel how they feel. Instead, Gurung suggests remaining open and honest with each other, even on bad days.

"It tin be empowering and grounding to but preempt before profitable with care, 'Gosh, honey, today just feels like a rough day.' It's not something that implies that the care receiver is a brunt; instead, it makes it more about the activity being difficult," says Gurung. "It adds this element of verbalizing in this 'me and you' space that this is difficult, but information technology's not accusatory. We ready what our space is today to brand sure we know where each other is so we can both go out of it what we need. Set that expectation together."

Make Space for Gratitude

"Gratitude allows you to expect at things through a different lens and then you're able to still see the positive and enjoy the good moments where they be," says Spann. But it'southward not automatic—caregivers have to cull gratitude for themselves and their partners every 24-hour interval, and it's not an easy pick, especially as an illness progresses or burnout takes hold.

In moments when gratitude feels hard to find, Spann suggests using reframing language similar, "It's different, only we notwithstanding accept X," to help acknowledge reality and feel gratitude in equal measure.

Believe They Can

"If you're working with someone with dementia, the loss of certain functions or a loss of power to even reciprocate expressively through language, keep to talk to them with a level of love and care, and caress them with that aforementioned level of love and intendance," suggests Spann. Rather than spend energy guessing what the care receiver can and cannot hear, feel or empathize, choose to believe they can experience it all in full.

Play their favorite music, talk about joyful times and hang art on the walls they would appreciate. "In that location'due south a lot of ability in our words, and there'south a lot of power in our presence," says Spann. "Y'all never know when that moment of connection can happen."

Permit Assistance In

All too often, caregivers autumn into a "I tin can do it all" routine with their partner, so much so that they lose sight of how to take help when it'south available. "When yous're caring for a loved one, you want to exercise everything you lot tin to solve the trouble, but at the same time, some things are all-time left to professionals," says Dr. Ho.

Spann recommends caregivers consider adding a certified nurse assistant or home wellness aide (if financially viable) to their current care team to distribute the workload in a healthier way. "It'due south okay to realize there's but so much you tin can practise," he says. "Professional support tin assist serve as a buffer where you feel a level of exhaustion, be information technology physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. It's going to help brand certain in that location's a separation in those identities."

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Remember Your Value

Typically, people are partners well before they get caregivers—and that starting time function can be the almost significant. "The value of what you tin can provide your loved ane oft is emotional support and companionship," says Dr. Ho. It does require accepting help so yous can step out of your caregiver shoes from time to time, but doing and then too enables you to tap into a power just you lot possess for your partner.

In fact, Spann suggests love alone tin can exist quite healing in a care partnership. "There are moments when we demand to give proper care and be very aware of the right thing to do to make sure they're stable, simply there'due south as well something and then powerful in love, compassion and grace that's only as medicine-like that can really help them. Be mindful of that," he says.

How to Reconnect With Yourself

Despite how it may experience, a caregiver's beingness does not (and should not) brainstorm and end with the ways in which they serve their partner. Room must exist for the private and their own identity to maintain their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. And while bandwidth is often severely limited for most people in caregiving roles, at that place are good-recommended practices to assistance inspire that remainder.

Redefine Self-Care

When suggesting self-care to a caregiver, the response, "Are you kidding me?" is a common one. The thought feels then out of sync with their reality, peculiarly when information technology conjures images of jet setting to an island vacation or taking a spa day. Withal, it'south the most of import thing from twenty-four hour period i in whatsoever human relationship, co-ordinate to Keilman.

"Cocky-care is the easiest thing we tin can do for ourselves, merely nosotros don't call up almost it that mode, and we don't call back almost it every bit taking care of the cocky," she says. "We recall near it as beingness selfish or cocky-centered. If people just ate plenty fruit and vegetables and healthy meals, drank plenty water, got some physical action, slept well and had some fun doing something they enjoy on a regular basis—even if it's merely reading a book—everyone would be able to manage stress much easier."

"We need a new word or concept, something that doesn't go far seem every bit time consuming," adds Gurung. "Mayhap it's a minute of deep breathing or a quick walk around the block— something that'south notwithstanding rejuvenating to the caregiver but doesn't feel like some other task. It'due south also something they tin use consistently and build into their life every bit a tool they tin lean on. Everyone can benefit from this kind of self-care."

Meditation, mindfulness and talking openly with a friend are all among simple moments of self-care Keilman recommends as well.

Find Respite for Yourself

When symptoms of burnout begin to stack upwards, it's disquisitional that a caregiver seek space for their own healing.

"You have to take a pause and pace away from what's happening," says Spann. "Your hyper-sensation and hyper-focus on the person you're loving comes from pity, simply if you're not giving that same grace and compassion to yourself and taking time for a interruption, you volition find yourself called-for out quicker than you recall. Caregivers who have a balance, find time to take care of themselves, eat good for you, get rest and find support where they need back up are able to find more sustainability in providing that for their partner."

Like to cocky-care, respite can be in small moments. Information technology's merely a space that gives your mind the opportunity to have its own space for y'all, says Spann. "Find a small moment for a nap or discuss with your partner the need for fourth dimension with your friends. Gradually build information technology up to where you're able to feel comfortable and trust that your partner is okay with yous going off and doing other things that make life worth living. If you lot're hyper-focused on your partner and yous're non having those conversations, you're going to find that you're living more for them and not having your own life."

For Keilman, stress reduction is one of the main goals of respite. "Y'all have to keep your intendance partner role balanced with the rest of your life, fifty-fifty though being a care partner takes 100% [of that space] most of the time" she says. "You still demand respite, you still need to get out, yous notwithstanding demand to take intendance of yourself. Acquire how to command your stress with simple things. Music is great, dance is great… Perhaps you can endeavour placing a bird feeder exterior your window. There'south and then much that nosotros tin do that isn't rocket scientific discipline—you merely have to get a piffling creative."

And when you practise step abroad for that intermission, brand information technology a real break, says Gordon-Battle. "Don't use it to telephone call the insurance company or refill medications. Brand that break for yourself."

Join a Support Group

While some supportive services like home health assistance can cause caregivers additional financial stress, there are resources that are both complimentary and highly constructive.

"When it comes to back up for the caregiver, see if there'south a network of support they could have, be it family unit or friends or someone close enough to help guide them through the situation equally a listening ear," says Spann. "That kind of network could be very helpful for them in creating space and respite for themselves."

Keilman agrees, adding, "It'south amazing what care partners can learn from other intendance partners."

It's important for caregivers to know they're not alone fifty-fifty if they feel similar they are, says Dr. Ho. "Sympathize that it'south okay to achieve out to get your own support. Whether you observe a grouping online or reach out to a few shut friends, try to engage with other people and inquire for the back up you need," she says. "You have to give yourself that time because, ultimately, your health and the health of the person y'all're caring for is reliant on your emotional health to a great caste."

Try Therapy

If community support isn't enough, connect with a therapist or counselor for help.

"Therapy gives the caregiver the opportunity to speak openly and freely about what they're feeling and what they may be going through," says Gordon-Battle. "Spouses caring for each other definitely need to be in therapy because information technology likewise helps in the long term. Anger and frustration come when there's a loss, and if they're already connected with a therapist, they can navigate that freely rather than hold information technology in. Information technology also helps them become contained," she adds. "But exist open to the process and try information technology. It gives everyone a leg up."

Focus on the Joy

Life as a intendance partner is tough, but that doesn't mean every day is a bad day. "Focus on what you can do together and what brings you happiness and joy when you're providing care, considering at that place are good times," says Keilman. "Sometimes we just have to focus more on those things while besides agreement that it's tough. The people I've seen be successful caregivers took themselves lightly, focused on the joy and actually looked for information technology."

Exist Honest About Your Loss

As a caregiver remembers to feel joy, information technology's equally of import to procedure the loss they already experienced.

"I don't think information technology'south good for you to wait at a situation that's changing and pretend that it's non changing," says Gordon-Battle. "I don't encourage people to fantasize or believe the person in front of them is the same person they were dating and experiencing life with previously, because that'south no longer the example. I want them to be realistic well-nigh what exactly is being presented to them; it's actually important to brainstorm to process that loss and begin to arrange. That, too, is role of self-care, including talking about what you lot miss."

Give Yourself Credit

At the terminate of the 24-hour interval, equally caregivers work to residue the needs of their partner and themselves, they desperately need to exercise self-appreciation. "Yous are doing the best you can, and if that'due south the all-time yous tin can do for that twenty-four hours, don't guilt yourself or shame yourself if you lot don't see whatever change from your partner," says Spann. "Each day is a new day, and if you're doing your best, that's all you can do."

Learning How to Talk Nearly Illness and Death

Caregiving is non an sectional feel—one out of every five U.Southward. adults serves as a family unit caregiver to some extent in a given year, according to the AARP study ^[two] Caregiving in the U.S. 2020 Report. AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving. Accessed iii/8/2022. . And as the infant boomer generation continues to age and live longer, more older adults are navigating chronic and frequently complex medical bug outside intendance facilities. In fact, 43% of senior respondents want to age in place at home, and 35% desire to live with family members as they age, according to the Care.com 2021 Senior Intendance Outlook Survey ^[iii] New senior care survey reveals lasting impacts of the pandemic on older adults and family caregivers. Care.com. Accessed three/eight/2022. . Then if you have yet to explore this possibility with your partner, consider yourself lucky: You still have time to prepare, and information technology's imperative that you practice and then.

"We have to normalize that crumbling and medical needs are going to come up," says Gordon-Battle. "But like we plan for the birth of a baby, we have to plan for the other end of the life cycle. Get-go that dialogue."

Make a Plan

Earlier challenges arise, make a point to sit downwardly with your partner and talk over the post-obit questions:

What do you lot want life together to look like when you're 60, 70 or eighty years onetime?
What would you want your partner to do for you if you got sick? What would they desire you to practise for them? Are you comfortable with the idea of coming together those needs for each other? If not, what are your other options?
If an disease were to progress, exercise you have an understanding of each other's advanced directives when it comes to more serious medical decisions? Do you feel confident in your power to carry out each other's wishes?
What kind of fiscal support would be required to provide the care desired by the both of you? Does that seem manageable? If not, how would you handle it
How often volition yous review this conversation to account for any potential changes?

This type of planning can be uncomfortable, awkward and emotionally draining, simply it's invaluable.

"We don't want to burden anyone, and so nosotros don't always communicate," says Gordon-Battle. "Simply the goal is to kickoff that communication, ask questions, share your thoughts, make sure you know what their needs are and set up a programme upward to say, 'This is where I tin aid,' or, 'These are things I cannot exercise.'"

The plan can start unproblematic, and yous can piece of work to fill in the holes over time. But brainstorm to normalize aging by having this conversation early, even as you start a new life with a partner, suggests Gordon-Battle. "Immature people have to exist responsible for normalizing this conversation at present," she says.

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Check In Regularly With Each Other

Remember: The foundation of a relationship is amplified by the caregiving feel. So take the time to tune into your dynamic with your partner now. Celebrate what's working, nurture what needs improvement and check in regularly to avoid unwanted surprises down the road.

"People need to examine their relationships on a regular basis," says Keilman. "Discuss what the past year has been like and your short-term and long-term goals for the future, specially as y'all go older. Fifty-fifty people who live the healthiest lives imaginable get chronic illnesses."

"COVID-19 is a perfect example," she adds. "Who expected that? Do a checkup on your relationship on a regular basis. Information technology'due south all about communication and having the trust and honesty to say, 'This is working out great' or 'This is bothering me.' And it'southward an opportunity when anybody is cognitively intact to talk about the 'what ifs.'"

Even the almost intimate of couples can fear difficult conversations, but if you love each other for who y'all are, and then you tin can trust that yous're in a safe space. Together, you tin can navigate the full circle of life, including all the joy and pain it undoubtedly brings. Hope for the best, plan for the worst and stay open for what'southward to come.

In memory of the love and life of William Hall, and in appreciation of the superhuman strength of Sandra Rivas-Hall

Footnotes

one. Caregiving in the U.S. 2020 Report. AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving. Accessed 3/8/2022.

2. Caregiving in the U.S. 2020 Study. AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving. Accessed 3/eight/2022.

3. New senior care survey reveals lasting impacts of the pandemic on older adults and family unit caregivers. Intendance.com. Accessed three/8/2022.

References

Caregiver Statistics: Facts About Family Caregivers. Aging Care. Accessed three/eight/2022.

Caregiving for Family and Friends — A Public Health Consequence. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed 3/8/2022.

Caregiver Burnout. Aging In Place. Accessed iii/8/2022.

Cohen SA, Kunicki ZJ, Drohan MM, Greaney ML. Exploring Changes in Caregiver Burden and Caregiving Intensity due to COVID-xix. Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2021;7:2333721421999279.

Pinquart M, Sorensen S. Differences between caregivers and noncaregivers in psychological health and concrete wellness: A meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging. 2003;18:250-267.