Partnering with Caregivers

Family caregiving is nonroutine help that is provided to a relative in need. On average, family caregivers have provided assistance for about 5 years, and close to half help their relatives with 1 or more activities of daily living in the United States. Family caregivers' unmet needs and the negative health outcomes they may experience demand effective, sustained clinical engagement. Clinical interventions that are intensive, individualized, and delivered over time to parallel chronic disease trajectories seem most effective. Principles of clinical assessment, tenets of a partnership-based health care framework, and newly emerging resources are presented to help guide clinicians' efforts to partner with family caregivers.