Regular Reflective Writing: Using Sense-Making Communication Structures to Improve Family Caregiver Wellbeing
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Zdroik, Trish
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University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
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This nation’s quality of health care has become dependent upon the 44 million Americans
(20% of the US population) who have taken on the role of family caregiving (National Alliance
for Caregiving, 2018). Family caregivers are people who provide medical, social, personal,
and/or other supportive care for a family member or friend who is chronically ill or disabled
(National Alliance for Caregiving, 2009). The Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision that
gives people the right to reject institutionalized care and receive health care in their own homes
(Supreme Court, Argued April 21, 1999–Decided June 22, 1999) has led to a steady increase in
the demand for in-home caregiving. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services and the U.S. Department of Labor (2005), the number of Americans requiring some
form of supportive caregiving is predicted to double from 13 million in the year 2000 to 27
million by the year 2050. And because most people who need such care prefer to receive it at
home, it is their family members who most frequently become the providers (National Alliance
for Caregiving, 2009). Special attention is needed to learn how family caregivers cope with the
demands of this role while simultaneously navigating the normal stressors of their everyday
lives.