The Caregiving Story: How the Narrative Approach Informs Caregiving Burden

Abstract

The burdens of giving care to a chronically ill or dependent family member can be overwhelming. The therapeutic utilization of narrative can assist elderly female care givers to transform their feelings of depression and burden into a healthy acceptance of the required care and disabilities of the elder for whom they care. This technique, which assists clients to re-story negative aspects of their perceived reality, has emerged from the theoretical framework of postmodernism. Using the narrative approach to a family case study involving a daughter and dependent mother, this article examines interventions that can facilitate the positive development of a client's care-giving story.