Caregiver Assessment

554 Words3 Pages

To prepare Susie and her family for changes they are about to undergo with moving a chronically ill family member in the home and providing care, the first thing that the nurse should perform is an assessment of the family member(s) who will be providing care, which is also known as a caregiver assessment. The caregiver assessment focuses on the person(s) providing care by collecting data and identifying what their strengths are, what will their needs be, and what resources they will need (Collins & Swartz, 2011). The assessment focuses on areas such as how the caregiver perceives the functional status of their loved one, what type of care they may have to give, their own values and preferences, their health, the need for support systems, etc., …show more content…

The article Moving Elderly Parents Into Your Home: 10 Factors to Consider Before Moving Elderly Parents In gave 10 great questions or factors that should be thought about before a decision is made. These factors from the article include: 1. What kind of care will the person need?, 2. How much assistance and supervision can be provided?, 3. How well do you get along?, 4. Is your home older-adult friendly, or can it be?, 5. Will the family member contribute financially?, 6. How do your spouse and children feel about the move in?, 7. Will the family member be able to live by your household rules?, 8. Will you and your family be able to adjust to the changes?, 9. Do you have time to take on this?, and 10. Will the older relative have a social network available (Naman, 2017)? These are some very important questions for those providing care or are about to provide care to a loved one, should ask themselves before moving the person within their home. The family structural theory "includes roles and relationships" between each family member and how they interact with each other (Rentfro, 2014 p. 152). The developmental theory focuses on different stages of the family and what tasks they should be able to perform or carry out (Rentfro, 2014). The family can be assessed as a whole, but each individual should be assessed such as in Susies family, the school-aged children should be assessed where they are at using the developmental theory, and also the family with older adults since Susie will have her elderly mother staying with