HHS HealthBeat (October 24, 2008)

Stress of care

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Day to day care for an older parent adds up to day to day stress for an adult child. That care piles on other responsibilities, such as work and the needs of the caregiver’s own kids.

At Virginia Tech, researcher Jyoti Savla saw it happen as she reviewed daily telephone interviews given by the caregivers. Her study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, was in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.

Savla says the accumulation of daily stresses can damage emotional and physical health. So she suggests giving some parts of the job to others, such as siblings or volunteers:

``I’m a caregiver, so I know that you want to take care of your parent yourself. But now is the time to start learning how to delegate some of these responsibilities.’’ (9 seconds)

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: October, 24 2008