Navigating the Journey of Aging Parents : What Care Receivers Want

Navigating the Journey of Aging Parents proposes an entirely unique approach to the field of gerontology, finally giving dependent care receivers a voice. Finally, caregivers will be made aware of what care receivers truly want during life's final chapters. Exploring issues of housing, spirituality, personal care, and death, Cheryl Kuba has created a testament to the dependent elderly. This book draws on numerous interviews with aging people and discusses common caregiver mistakes and misinterpretations, what a caregiver should expect when an aging parent moves in, and how to care for an aging parent from afar. Kuba also delves into such phenomena as guilt, role reversal, changing family dynamics, financial stress, and caring for oneself while caring for another. The 22.4 million elderly people being cared for in the United States comprises the fastest growing segment of the population, making this reference on the opinions and concerns of care receivers invaluable

Many books address the issue of caring for one's aging parents, but this will be the first book to consider the topic from the parents' perspective. Cheryl A. Kuba proposes an entirely unique approach to this aspect of gerontology: expressing the voices of care-receivers themselves. The dependent elderly are a wealth of information, Kuba discovers, and if we listen to them, we will be better able to help them. The 22.4 million elderly people being cared for in the United States comprise the fastest growing segment of the population, making the discovery of new approaches to care-giving more important than ever. This book draws on numerous interviews with aging people, and will discuss common care-giver mistakes and misinterpretations, what a care-giver should expect when an aging parent moves in, and how to care for an aging parent from afar. The book includes helpful resources for those caring for an aging parent in a variety of situations. Kuba explains such phenomena as guilt, role reversal, changing family dynamics, financial stress, and caring for oneself while caring for another. She also addresses the gendering of care-giving and the myth that Americans abandon the elderly.

Front cover 1 Contents 8 Foreword 10 Acknowledgments 14 Introduction 18 Chapter 1. Care Receivers: An Intimate Profile 26 Chapter 2. Start the Conversation 36 Chapter 3. Take Care of Yourself First 44 Chapter 4. Growing Old and Feeling Ill: A Permanent Condition? 58 Chapter 5. Getting Up Close and Personal 66 Chapter 6. Driving Through the Fog 76 Chapter 7. “Give Me the Keys” 92 Chapter 8. Leaving Home 112 Chapter 9. Destination: Your House 126 Chapter 10. A Million Miles Away: Receiving Care from a Distance 142 Chapter 11. Circling the Wagons 152 Chapter 12. Where Is the Love? 164 Chapter 13. What About God? Is He Still Listening to Me at This Age? 170 Chapter 14. The End of the Road: Death as Life’s Final Chapter 178 References 190 Index 194 Aging Parent Solutions, LLC 204 Back cover 205 Addresses the issue of caring for one's aging parents, from the parents' perspective. This book proposes a different approach to this aspect of gerontology: expressing the voices of care-receivers themselves. It explains such phenomena as guilt, role reversal, family dynamics, financial stress, and caring for oneself while caring for another.