Nursing Assistance for Families of Patients

Caring for Family Caregivers and the Cognitively Impaired Care-Receiver

Research validating the role of the family as caregivers has been well documented for the past quarter century. Although family caregiving is not new, today's new technology has increased both the complexity and the time span of care. Hence, caring for chronically ill or physically or mentally incapacitated older family members has become a normal family function. Subsequently, the focus and findings of numerous studies centered on the identification of "caregiver burden, " "caregiver stress, " and "caregiver strain. " This article provides interventions to assist the nurse in caring for family caregivers, as well as care receivers.

The strengths of families coping with serious mental illness

This article outlines a descriptive study that sought to document the strengths of families with members suffering from serious and persistent mental illnesses. The families of the mentally ill were compared with normative families on the variables of family stressors, family coping, and family health. The results indicate that although the families of the mentally ill have significantly more stressors than normative families, they have clear strengths relative to family coping and the family health subconcepts of adaptability and conflict management. The impact of the serious mental illness was found in their affective evaluations of the family unit on the family health subconcepts of cohesion and satisfaction.