Family Caregiver Stress

Family caregivers are individuals who are taking care of the emotional and/or physical needs of a physically or mentally ill family member. For example, an adult daughter who is taking care of an elderly parent who has cancer. This care can involve many tasks such as helping the individual bath, socializing, shopping, making sure they take their medications appropriately, feeding them, taking them to medical appointments, and providing emotional support.

Family caregivers can experience positive benefits from this role such as feeling emotionally fulfilled, deriving a sense of meaning from the caregiving, and learning new skills. However, caregiving can take up the majority of an individual’s time and may lead to the caregiver neglecting their own needs which can have a negative impact on their physical and mental health.

Potential negative impacts of caregiving:

• Developing chronic health conditions such as heart disease.
• Struggling financially.
• More prone to catching colds and flus.
• Developing depression. [When depression develops it is often left untreated as many caregivers do not recognize they are feeling depressed but instead interpret their symptoms as a normal side effect of their role as a family caregiver.] • Lack of sleep
• Premature aging
• Stress
• Anxiety
• Burn out

There are steps that family caregivers can take to protect themselves from potential negative impacts. Engaging in regular self-care such as exercising, eating healthy, keeping up with medical appointments, and engaging in stress reduction techniques such as deep breathing, making time for humour, and leaning on family and friends.