Overview
Students will identify a family caregiver from their professional or personal experience and conduct an interview. The family caregiver should be an unpaid, informal caregiver taking care of a loved one. For example, you could interview a spouse/partner caring for his or her spouse/partner or an adult child taking care of a parent, etc.
The assessment will address the following:
Part 1: Summary of caregiving relationship/situation
Include the demographics of the caregiver--Age, gender, ethnic background, relationship status, children (living, deceased), employment status, educational level, living arrangements.
Include the social functioning of the caregiver--Identify social and support systems and person’s ability to participate within these systems. Describe a typical day for this person.
Part 2: Assessment: The interview should include open-ended and close-ended questions to assess the following pieces of information:
Type (tasks) and frequency of care provided;
Skills necessary to provide the care;
Additional responsibilities or stressors that affect care provision;
What formal services are received;
Your assessment of the caregiver’s overall health status (mental and physical);
Values and preferences of the care recipient and caregiver (including culture, spirituality, and/or religion)
Your assessment of how able the caregiver is to continue with care; and
What additional formal services may be needed.
Include your impressions and recommendations regarding interventions-- how do you think the caregiver is doing, what concerns you have that maybe the caregiver did not mention, and include possible interventions or services to address concerns/problems, including enhancing current services to meet the need.
Include one standardized measure discussed in Gaugler, Kane and Langlois (2000) and administer the instrument during your interview-- discuss your findings and provide a written argument for why you selected the measure you used.