Caregiving

Defining Caregiving

Informal caregiving in its most elemental form characterizes a family member, loved one, neighbor, or significant other who provides direct assistance to a person (a care recipient) who, due to disability, is unable to be functionally independent without such assistance. Although the preceding definition is broad, a truly generalized characterization of caregiving is [Page 67]challenging in our multicultural society. This is due primarily to the fact that the manifestations of care-giving differ across cultures and cohort groups. For instance, in some traditional cultures (Asian, Hispanic, New Zealand Maori) it is expected and even common to provide care for family members by taking them into one's home and providing the necessary instrumental and emotional support to help them maintain functional independence. In contemporary American society (particularly among the White affluent majority culture in the United States), it is less expected that a family member will serve as the sole full-time caregiver, perhaps due to current mobility trends and an increased focus on individual goals and attainments. There are also numerous ways with which people from different contexts provide care. For instance, research has demonstrated that African Americans are more likely to provide care to friends and extended family members, in contrast to White Americans who are more likely to care for a member of their immediate family. These findings suggest that like many social phenomena, defining the nature of caregiving depends to a large extent on contextual factors.

There are, however, some common elements of the caregiver experience that can help to portray, in general, the caretaker role. Caregiving is most often an activity that focuses on providing needed support to another individual who is disabled to the extent that he or she is not capable of independent functioning. Caregiving also includes providing a variety of different types of support, but more often than not includes providing direct care in the service of everyday needs that the care recipient is not capable of performing due to a disease process, an injury, or a life-long disability. With regard to the elderly, the most common problems that result in the need for caregiving stem from senile dementia (Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia), stroke, and disorders such as severe arthritis or osteoporosis that markedly limit functional independence. Among children, pervasive developmental disorders such as autism or Rett's disorder and forms of severe intellectual disability such as Down's syndrome or fetal alcohol syndrome frequently require a family member to engage in caretaking.

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