education and resources for family caregivers, friends, and providers helping older adults
Funded by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) through these local area agencies on aging:
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Learning Objectives
After completing this module you will learn about:
• Understand the impact of the caregiver role on physical and psychological health
• Identify techniques for caregiver stress management
Index/Content of this Module
In this module you will learn about how to cope with the physical and psychological health effects of caregiving.
Click on a topic below to go to that area of the page:
1. The Challenge Of Caregiving
2. National Family Caregivers Association, 2000 Family Caregivers Survey
3. Healthy Nutrition
4. Activity and Exercise
5. Your Time
6. Deal with All that Stuff - Chunk the Junk!
7. Technology - Use It Wisely
8. Emotional, Mental and Spiritual
9. Practical Stress Management Tips
10. Reasons People Join Support Groups
11. Establish and Maintain Winning Relationships
12. Keep your Sense of Humor
13. Re-evaluate and Re-balance Your Priorities
14. Ten Ways to Manage Your Time and Stress
15. Resources for Caregivers
16. Follow-up Reminder to “Walk the Talk”
17. Sources
The Challenge of Caregiving
Providing care for the older adults in our lives can be a rewarding challenge, however caregiving also can be stressful because of the tasks that must be performed, and the changes or shifts within the relationship between caregiver and care receiver.
Coping with these changes successfully is the key to experiencing a fulfilling and satisfying caregiving experience.
National Family Caregivers Association, 2000 Family Caregivers Survey
• 91% believe “preserving your health” is a message that should be told to all family caregivers.
• 30% exercise regularly since becoming caregivers, compared with 61% who exercised before becoming caregivers.
• 47% seek prompt medical attention for themselves compared to 70% who did so before becoming caregivers.
• 92% like the idea of caregivers being considered a special group within the population.
Healthy Nutrition - for You and Your Older Relative!
• Evaluate healthy nutrition habits and make changes
• Discuss nutrition needs related to health, medications, activity level and other factors
• Discuss vitamins and other supplements with the physician
• Consult with a dietician, if possible
• Use nutritious meals that can be frozen or quickly heated
In addition, for older adults:
• Learn about nutrition - People over 70 may require smaller portions of all groups except more of the milk, yogurt and cheese group
• Arrange for Meals on Wheels or other community assistance for older adults, if possible
• Drink lots of water
• Eat fresh fruits and vegetables
• Consume plenty of fiber
• Consider vitamins and other supplements
http://www.mypyramid.gov
One size doesn't fit all
USDA's new MyPyramid symbolizes a personalized approach to healthy eating and physical activity. The symbol has been designed to be simple. It has been developed to remind consumers to make healthy food choices and to be active every day.
Activity and Exercise
You can support wellness habits for yourself and for your care recipient:
• Become an active partner with the physician and other health care providers
• Encourage nutrition
• Encourage stretching and light exercise, if approved by physician and the person is able to participate. Exercise increases physical and mental wellness.
• Encourage physical activity at the individual’s capacity.
• Walking
• Exercise bicycle
• Weight training using hand weights
• Dancing
• Stretching
• Yoga or Tai Chi
Your Time
• Calendar: use one that suits your personality and responsibilities
• Ask yourself the question: “What is the best use of my time right now?”
• Break overwhelming tasks into a series of small steps
• Schedule all activities to ensure they are done - unless they just are not important
• Are you over committing your time?
• Look ahead/plan ahead
• Document completions/note successes
Try to avoid time stress:
- Loss of control over activities
- Constant deadlines
- Conflicting priorities and demands for time
- Effects of time schedules
All that Stuff - Chunk the Junk! (And Organize What’s Left)
•Evaluate it
•Give it away
•Pass it on
•Plan/organize it
•Consolidate
•Handle it as little as possible
•Eliminate all that extra paper
Record keeping tips:
•Make lists and use the A-B-C system
•Remember the Pareto’s 80/20 rule*
•Handle paper and information once
–Delete it
–File it
–Delegate/forward
–Do something and complete
–Make lists - one book method
*“Eighty percent of your troubles will come from 20 per cent of your problems"
Filing tips - File folders:
–Days of the month/months of the year
–Pending
–Project
–Customized
–Consider color coding, according to categories
Labels:
–Dates
–People
–Contact numbers
Keep like things grouped together!
Technology - Use It Don’t Let It Use You
Are You Using Your Computer Wisely?
•How often do you really need to check e-mail?
How often depends on priority at work at and home
•Use bookmarks
•Learn as much as you can about newest technology only if it really helps you manage your time and life
•Are you backing up information?
•When do you need a hard copy?
Manage the paper and machines in your life? Are you being managed by them?
Effective use of the telephone:
•Set aside uninterrupted time during which you do not answer the telephone
•Suggest specific times for people to call you
•Use voice mail, answering machines, email, Call Notes©
Be specific in leaving messages about the best time to return your calls.
Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Life
Emotional:
•Communicate
•“What are my priorities?”
•“What did I do today to show my (family)(co-workers) that I value them?”
•“Did I keep all my commitments?
Mental and Spiritual:
•Keep your mind active:
–Read
–Attend adult education classes
–Participate in community activities
•Find or re-discover a spiritual path:
–Prayer
–Meditation
–Organized worship
•Set aside quiet time or “down time” every day
•Enjoy nature; take a walk
Practical Stress Management Tips
•Manage stress before the situation becomes a crisis
•Reframe your perception of situations
•Ask for help Set up a Job Jar of things that you need help with and when someone asks what they can do let them choose a task to do
•Recognize your history and what triggers your stress response “If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you always got”
•What do you have control over? What can you influence?
•Take care of your physical and mental health
•Have some fun
•Respond - don't react
•Breathe!
•Practice letting go
•Prioritize activities according to importance and available time - Activity does not necessarily mean productivity
•Decide and “Just do it”
•Recognize the harmful effects of perfectionism and take steps to be more flexible
•Remind yourself of the high cost of worry and the low return
Try the following tips for cultivating humor in your life:
·Learn to laugh when facing life`s challenges. Rather than saying, "We`ll laugh about this someday," look for the humor in the situation, and give yourself permission to laugh now.
·Seek out funny cartoons and articles online or in the daily paper.
·Create a humor file of cartoons, articles, and jokes you hear and jot down. Share them with others.
·Realize that you can`t control the world around you, but can control your inner reality and perceptions. Use positive self-talk.
·Take yourself lightly. Learn to laugh at your situation, and at your mistakes.
·Memorize at least two jokes. Tell them!
Reasons People Join Support Groups
Seek support from other caregivers. There is great strength in knowing you are not alone.
Statements from Caregiver Support Group members:
1. "It was the only place where I could say how I felt and people would understand."
2. "I learned where to go for help in caring for my loved one."
3. "I realized it was possible to laugh at some of the impossible, crazy things that happened during the day."
4. "I discovered that it was important to have some time for myself to do the things I want to do, and NOT feel guilty."
5. "I learned to stop trying to teach and correct or reason with my loved one. Instead, I learned to accept that the way he saw things was very real to him."
Establish and Maintain Winning Relationships
·Communicate; take the initiative.
·Surround yourself with winners.
·Avoid negative and critical people.
·One negative can eradicate twenty positives!
·Be real and true to yourself.
·Believe that “what goes around comes around.”
·Listen.
The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor, and elan.
Re-evaluate and Re-balance Your Priorities
•Am I sure about what matters most?”
•“What am I learning?”
•“What am I doing to take care of myself?”
•“What can I delegate or ask help with?”
•“What can I say no to?”
Ten Ways to Manage Your Priorities and Stress
10. Get rid of unnecessary stuff ‘chunk the junk’
9. Be realistic
8. Prioritize
7. Decide
6. Rid yourself of as many interruptions as possible
5. Ask for help
4. Make lists and do what is written on them
3. Plan “if you don’t know where you are going you will end
up somewhere else”
2. KISS-keep it simple and sane
1. Take one day at a time and value it as if it were your last
Keep Your Sense of Humor
Humor? At a time like this?
Yes! Laughter, like crying, is a form of catharsis. It provides an outlet for relieving feelings of stress and anxiety. Laughter can help “clear your head,” helping you to look at a situation from a new angle.
Try the following tips for cultivating humor in your life:
· Learn to laugh when facing life`s challenges. Rather than saying, "We`ll laugh about this someday," look for the humor in the situation, and give yourself permission to laugh now.
· Seek out funny cartoons and articles online or in the daily paper.
· Create a humor file of cartoons, articles, and jokes you hear and jot down. Share them with others. · Realize that you can`t control the world around you, but can control your inner reality and perceptions. Use positive self-talk.
· Take yourself lightly. Learn to laugh at your situation, and at your mistakes .
· Memorize at least two jokes. Tell them!
Follow Up Reminder to Walk the Talk
1. Write yourself a letter, dated today, reminding yourself what you decided to do today about managing your stress and time.
2. Address an envelope to yourself.
3. Seal the letter in the envelope.
4. In 30 days mail it to yourself.
When you receive it open it, read it and walk the talk!
Resources for Caregivers
Call
• 2-1-1 throughout Texas. Provides information and access to health and human service information for all ages
• 1-800-252-9240 to find local Texas Area Agency on Aging
• 1-800-677-1116 - Elder Care Locator to find help throughout the U.S.
Online
• Online education, resources, links, frequently asked questions
• Benefits Check-up for an online way to determine benefits for which someone qualifies.
Assistance available through the Area Agency on Aging for caregivers:
• Information and referral
• Caregiver education and training
• Caregiver respite
• Caregiver support coordination
• Case management
• Transportation assistance
Assistance available through the Area Agency on Aging for persons age 60 and older:
• Benefits counseling
• Ombudsman - advocacy for those who live in nursing homes and assisted living facilities
• Home delivered meals
• Congregate meals
• Light housekeeping
Note: Not all services are available in all counties. Call the Area Agency on Aging for information about a specific community.
Sources
Written by Zanda Hilger, M Ed, LPC, Elder Family Caregiver Education, Area Agency on Aging, as revised in 2008 with assistance from: Steve Katten & Gary Westenhover, Elder Law Attorneys
Revised in 2009 by Zanda Hilger and Betty Purkey
Elder Law Handbook, 3rd Edition, 2004, Senior Citizens Liaison Committee, Tarrant County Bar Association.
Online and print information from Centers for Medicare Services (CMS)
Permission is granted to duplicate any and all parts of this program to use in education programs supporting family members caring for elders.
This program is one module of a comprehensive caregiver education program provided by the area agency on aging.
After completing this module you will learn about:
• Understand the impact of the caregiver role on physical and psychological health
• Identify techniques for caregiver stress management
Index/Content of this Module
In this module you will learn about how to cope with the physical and psychological health effects of caregiving.
Click on a topic below to go to that area of the page:
1. The Challenge Of Caregiving
2. National Family Caregivers Association, 2000 Family Caregivers Survey
3. Healthy Nutrition
4. Activity and Exercise
5. Your Time
6. Deal with All that Stuff - Chunk the Junk!
7. Technology - Use It Wisely
8. Emotional, Mental and Spiritual
9. Practical Stress Management Tips
10. Reasons People Join Support Groups
11. Establish and Maintain Winning Relationships
12. Keep your Sense of Humor
13. Re-evaluate and Re-balance Your Priorities
14. Ten Ways to Manage Your Time and Stress
15. Resources for Caregivers
16. Follow-up Reminder to “Walk the Talk”
17. Sources
The Challenge of Caregiving
Providing care for the older adults in our lives can be a rewarding challenge, however caregiving also can be stressful because of the tasks that must be performed, and the changes or shifts within the relationship between caregiver and care receiver.
Coping with these changes successfully is the key to experiencing a fulfilling and satisfying caregiving experience.
National Family Caregivers Association, 2000 Family Caregivers Survey
• 91% believe “preserving your health” is a message that should be told to all family caregivers.
• 30% exercise regularly since becoming caregivers, compared with 61% who exercised before becoming caregivers.
• 47% seek prompt medical attention for themselves compared to 70% who did so before becoming caregivers.
• 92% like the idea of caregivers being considered a special group within the population.
Healthy Nutrition - for You and Your Older Relative!
• Evaluate healthy nutrition habits and make changes
• Discuss nutrition needs related to health, medications, activity level and other factors
• Discuss vitamins and other supplements with the physician
• Consult with a dietician, if possible
• Use nutritious meals that can be frozen or quickly heated
In addition, for older adults:
• Learn about nutrition - People over 70 may require smaller portions of all groups except more of the milk, yogurt and cheese group
• Arrange for Meals on Wheels or other community assistance for older adults, if possible
• Drink lots of water
• Eat fresh fruits and vegetables
• Consume plenty of fiber
• Consider vitamins and other supplements
http://www.mypyramid.gov
One size doesn't fit all
USDA's new MyPyramid symbolizes a personalized approach to healthy eating and physical activity. The symbol has been designed to be simple. It has been developed to remind consumers to make healthy food choices and to be active every day.
Activity and Exercise
You can support wellness habits for yourself and for your care recipient:
• Become an active partner with the physician and other health care providers
• Encourage nutrition
• Encourage stretching and light exercise, if approved by physician and the person is able to participate. Exercise increases physical and mental wellness.
• Encourage physical activity at the individual’s capacity.
• Walking
• Exercise bicycle
• Weight training using hand weights
• Dancing
• Stretching
• Yoga or Tai Chi
Your Time
• Calendar: use one that suits your personality and responsibilities
• Ask yourself the question: “What is the best use of my time right now?”
• Break overwhelming tasks into a series of small steps
• Schedule all activities to ensure they are done - unless they just are not important
• Are you over committing your time?
• Look ahead/plan ahead
• Document completions/note successes
Try to avoid time stress:
- Loss of control over activities
- Constant deadlines
- Conflicting priorities and demands for time
- Effects of time schedules
All that Stuff - Chunk the Junk! (And Organize What’s Left)
•Evaluate it
•Give it away
•Pass it on
•Plan/organize it
•Consolidate
•Handle it as little as possible
•Eliminate all that extra paper
Record keeping tips:
•Make lists and use the A-B-C system
•Remember the Pareto’s 80/20 rule*
•Handle paper and information once
–Delete it
–File it
–Delegate/forward
–Do something and complete
–Make lists - one book method
*“Eighty percent of your troubles will come from 20 per cent of your problems"
Filing tips - File folders:
–Days of the month/months of the year
–Pending
–Project
–Customized
–Consider color coding, according to categories
Labels:
–Dates
–People
–Contact numbers
Keep like things grouped together!
Technology - Use It Don’t Let It Use You
Are You Using Your Computer Wisely?
•How often do you really need to check e-mail?
How often depends on priority at work at and home
•Use bookmarks
•Learn as much as you can about newest technology only if it really helps you manage your time and life
•Are you backing up information?
•When do you need a hard copy?
Manage the paper and machines in your life? Are you being managed by them?
Effective use of the telephone:
•Set aside uninterrupted time during which you do not answer the telephone
•Suggest specific times for people to call you
•Use voice mail, answering machines, email, Call Notes©
Be specific in leaving messages about the best time to return your calls.
Emotional, Mental and Spiritual Life
Emotional:
•Communicate
•“What are my priorities?”
•“What did I do today to show my (family)(co-workers) that I value them?”
•“Did I keep all my commitments?
Mental and Spiritual:
•Keep your mind active:
–Read
–Attend adult education classes
–Participate in community activities
•Find or re-discover a spiritual path:
–Prayer
–Meditation
–Organized worship
•Set aside quiet time or “down time” every day
•Enjoy nature; take a walk
Practical Stress Management Tips
•Manage stress before the situation becomes a crisis
•Reframe your perception of situations
•Ask for help Set up a Job Jar of things that you need help with and when someone asks what they can do let them choose a task to do
•Recognize your history and what triggers your stress response “If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you always got”
•What do you have control over? What can you influence?
•Take care of your physical and mental health
•Have some fun
•Respond - don't react
•Breathe!
•Practice letting go
•Prioritize activities according to importance and available time - Activity does not necessarily mean productivity
•Decide and “Just do it”
•Recognize the harmful effects of perfectionism and take steps to be more flexible
•Remind yourself of the high cost of worry and the low return
Try the following tips for cultivating humor in your life:
·Learn to laugh when facing life`s challenges. Rather than saying, "We`ll laugh about this someday," look for the humor in the situation, and give yourself permission to laugh now.
·Seek out funny cartoons and articles online or in the daily paper.
·Create a humor file of cartoons, articles, and jokes you hear and jot down. Share them with others.
·Realize that you can`t control the world around you, but can control your inner reality and perceptions. Use positive self-talk.
·Take yourself lightly. Learn to laugh at your situation, and at your mistakes.
·Memorize at least two jokes. Tell them!
Reasons People Join Support Groups
Seek support from other caregivers. There is great strength in knowing you are not alone.
Statements from Caregiver Support Group members:
1. "It was the only place where I could say how I felt and people would understand."
2. "I learned where to go for help in caring for my loved one."
3. "I realized it was possible to laugh at some of the impossible, crazy things that happened during the day."
4. "I discovered that it was important to have some time for myself to do the things I want to do, and NOT feel guilty."
5. "I learned to stop trying to teach and correct or reason with my loved one. Instead, I learned to accept that the way he saw things was very real to him."
Establish and Maintain Winning Relationships
·Communicate; take the initiative.
·Surround yourself with winners.
·Avoid negative and critical people.
·One negative can eradicate twenty positives!
·Be real and true to yourself.
·Believe that “what goes around comes around.”
·Listen.
The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor, and elan.
Re-evaluate and Re-balance Your Priorities
•Am I sure about what matters most?”
•“What am I learning?”
•“What am I doing to take care of myself?”
•“What can I delegate or ask help with?”
•“What can I say no to?”
Ten Ways to Manage Your Priorities and Stress
10. Get rid of unnecessary stuff ‘chunk the junk’
9. Be realistic
8. Prioritize
7. Decide
6. Rid yourself of as many interruptions as possible
5. Ask for help
4. Make lists and do what is written on them
3. Plan “if you don’t know where you are going you will end
up somewhere else”
2. KISS-keep it simple and sane
1. Take one day at a time and value it as if it were your last
Keep Your Sense of Humor
Humor? At a time like this?
Yes! Laughter, like crying, is a form of catharsis. It provides an outlet for relieving feelings of stress and anxiety. Laughter can help “clear your head,” helping you to look at a situation from a new angle.
Try the following tips for cultivating humor in your life:
· Learn to laugh when facing life`s challenges. Rather than saying, "We`ll laugh about this someday," look for the humor in the situation, and give yourself permission to laugh now.
· Seek out funny cartoons and articles online or in the daily paper.
· Create a humor file of cartoons, articles, and jokes you hear and jot down. Share them with others. · Realize that you can`t control the world around you, but can control your inner reality and perceptions. Use positive self-talk.
· Take yourself lightly. Learn to laugh at your situation, and at your mistakes .
· Memorize at least two jokes. Tell them!
Follow Up Reminder to Walk the Talk
1. Write yourself a letter, dated today, reminding yourself what you decided to do today about managing your stress and time.
2. Address an envelope to yourself.
3. Seal the letter in the envelope.
4. In 30 days mail it to yourself.
When you receive it open it, read it and walk the talk!
Resources for Caregivers
Call
• 2-1-1 throughout Texas. Provides information and access to health and human service information for all ages
• 1-800-252-9240 to find local Texas Area Agency on Aging
• 1-800-677-1116 - Elder Care Locator to find help throughout the U.S.
Online
• Online education, resources, links, frequently asked questions
• Benefits Check-up for an online way to determine benefits for which someone qualifies.
Assistance available through the Area Agency on Aging for caregivers:
• Information and referral
• Caregiver education and training
• Caregiver respite
• Caregiver support coordination
• Case management
• Transportation assistance
Assistance available through the Area Agency on Aging for persons age 60 and older:
• Benefits counseling
• Ombudsman - advocacy for those who live in nursing homes and assisted living facilities
• Home delivered meals
• Congregate meals
• Light housekeeping
Note: Not all services are available in all counties. Call the Area Agency on Aging for information about a specific community.
Sources
Written by Zanda Hilger, M Ed, LPC, Elder Family Caregiver Education, Area Agency on Aging, as revised in 2008 with assistance from: Steve Katten & Gary Westenhover, Elder Law Attorneys
Revised in 2009 by Zanda Hilger and Betty Purkey
Elder Law Handbook, 3rd Edition, 2004, Senior Citizens Liaison Committee, Tarrant County Bar Association.
Online and print information from Centers for Medicare Services (CMS)
Permission is granted to duplicate any and all parts of this program to use in education programs supporting family members caring for elders.
This program is one module of a comprehensive caregiver education program provided by the area agency on aging.
Online Education for Caregivers
Module 9: Caring for the Caregiver
