Caregiving is caregiving. Frequency, intensity, duration, and types of caregiving vary, but each caregiver is on a continuum. With that comes change and uncertainty. Developing a caregiving support plan creates a foundation and strategies to help navigate the ups and downs and twists and turns. It allows family caregivers to think about how best to care and what supports will help.
Putting together a caregiver support plan is driven by caregiving needs and is tailored to what will provide the greatest support to reduce emotional and physical stress for the caregiver.
For instance, let’s take Anna. She is a student who is caring for her sister with kidney disease and is just learning to navigate dialysis and the care routines at home. She used the following steps to create a caregiving plan that still made it possible for her to go to school and care for her sister at home.
- Identify Caregiver Needs: Where could more support help? Where is a caregiver having trouble or where is there a gap in caregiving strategies?
For Anna, she identified her needs as having time during the day to complete her school assignments, an opportunity to take part in a young caregiver support group and staying physically active.
- List Current Caregiving Activities: What caregiving activities require the caregiver to be present and which ones can be delegated? Being able to share the care and decisions with others can help create healthy boundaries and balance time, while establishing a circle of care and support for both the caregiver and care recipient.
For Anna, she feels she needs to be home on most evenings to help her sister manage the evening care routine and to be there to support her emotionally. She feels she can delegate some of the evening cooking tasks to a family friend who is willing and able to support them.
- What’s the Carrot? Writing down why these needs are important helps shine a light on how they will affect a caregiver’s overall well-being, as well as their role as a family caregiver.
For Anna, her carrots are: 1) she wants to support her sister to feel empowered in decision-making and in managing her disease and 2) knowing what is expected of her in a caregiving role will allow her to manage her school schedule so she can still graduate.
- Getting Specific and Finding Support: Writing it down and being specific in planning and finding support improves the chances of sticking with a caregiver plan. Finding support can include seeking out and utilizing resources like friends, family, local organizations, self-management programs, your family doctor, etc.
For Anna, part of her plan was to have her family friend come over three times a week to cook evening meals, so she could stay active and attend a virtual caregiver support group.
Two other important steps are dealing with possible setbacks (they happen!) and celebrating successes. Think about what might get in the way of filling needs and ways to overcome these things. Create a contingency plan. And finally, celebrate the successes, no matter how big or small they seem. They reflect a caregiver’s commitment and astuteness towards overall well-being and the importance of them as a person. |
Family Caregivers of BC is proud to showcase its newest tools and worksheets to support caregivers in making a personal plan. You can find it online in our Caregiver Learning Centre or by calling us toll-free at 1-877-520-3267 for more information.
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Wendy Johnstone is a Gerontologist and a consultant with Family Caregivers of British Columbia in Victoria, BC.