The Emotional Survival Guide for Caregivers: Looking after Yourself and Your Family While Helping an Aging Parent
Author: Barry J Jacobs
Caring for a parent whose health is in decline turns the world upside down. The emotional fallout can be devastating, but it doesn't have to be that way. Empathic guidance from an expert who's been there can help. Through an account of two sisters and their ailing mother--interwoven with no-nonsense advice--The Emotional Survival Guide for Caregivers helps family members navigate tough decisions and make the most of their time together as they care for an aging parent. The author urges readers to be honest about the level of commitment they're able to make and emphasizes the need for clear communication within the family. While acknowledging their guilt, stress, and fatigue, he helps caregivers reaffirm emotional connections worn thin by the routine of daily care. This compassionate book will help families everywhere avoid burnout and preserve bonds during one of life's most difficult passages.
Publishers Weekly
For anyone with the responsibility of caring for a sick or disabled parent, this clear-eyed guide will be of real assistance. Jacobs, director of behavioral sciences for the Crozer-Keystone Family Medicine Residency Program in Pennsylvania, knows firsthand the emotional and financial devastation such illness can cause: his father died of cancer when Jacobs was 13. He illustrates the problems caregivers face through the story of two women (composites of caregivers he has known), middle-aged, married sisters struggling with the cancer of their widowed mother from diagnosis to death. As Jacobs points out, the sisters, their mother and her doctors are not perfect models of resilience and wisdom: rather, they're average people whom readers will be able to identify with and learn from. Through this story, Jacobs explores how to define your commitment to caregiving and recruit relatives as well as professionals to help, along with strategies for preserving your own personal life during an extended illness. Jacobs recommends that family members meet regularly, even online, to negotiate caregiving responsibilities. Jacobs's frankness about the emotional as well as medical traps that await families dealing with serious illness, and his concrete advice on how to handle them, offers in-depth support to caregivers. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer: Susan Richardson, MA, PSY.D(Private Practice)
Description: This is a self-help/reference book for people in the position of caring for sick, aging, or dying parents.
Purpose: The author's purpose is to help adults who are caring for aging and/or dying parents understand the depth of the process they are involved in and to recognize the limits they have emotionally, physically, and spiritually. This has been a neglected area that is gaining importance as this country grays and ages.
Audience: This book can be used by anyone caring for a sick or aging parent. It is a good resource for mental health professionals to draw upon as well, as caregiver burnout issues frequently lead to depression and anxiety as well as family conflicts. These issues frequently find caregivers turning to therapy to deepen their resources. The author is a therapist and a journalist who writes about caregiving issues frequently in the National Family Caregivers Association newsletter quarterly.
Features: The book presents the key issues and concepts of caregiving predominantly from the process of a family suddenly having to care for the matriarch. The author provides an insightful and realistic depiction of the type of issues and conflicts that come up within the individual and within the family. He includes the perspective of the aging parent as well. He covers the topic from the first days to the last days of the caregiving, providing meaningful context for the first time caregiver.
Assessment: This is a readable, accessible and useful book that grapples with an emotionally difficult area. It is important for people tounderstand how to care for themselves during the devastating years of parental decline and this book is well worth reading.
Library Journal
Jacobs, who works with couples and families coping with serious health problems, shows readers how to help a seriously ill loved one while taking care to limit the debilitating effects of caregiving on the family. After sharing a poignant, personal account about his own father, Jacobs organizes his wise material around the story of a family that represents a composite of families he has helped in the past: two sisters and their cancer-ridden mother. An introductory chapter offers research findings and clinical anecdotes, and subsequent chapters follow the exemplary family through time as they cope with such things as medical treatments, misunderstandings with the treating professionals, and the vicissitudes of the disease. A collection of questions and answers explores different facets of the caregiving task and offers specific tips and strategies for success. The resources section lists a variety of organizations, publications, and web sites. With the book's focus on various life-threatening diseases, including Alzheimer's, this title nicely supplements Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins's The 36-Hour Day. Highly recommended for university libraries supporting the helping professions and for larger public libraries.-Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Interesting textbook: Privatization or New Niagara
Big, Beautiful and Pregnant: Expert Advice and Comforting Wisdom for the Expecting Plus-Size Woman
Author: Cornelia van der Ziel
Almost half of all pregnant women are overweight in the U.S. today, but there are few places they can turn for reliable information and helpful advice on the special set of challenges they'll face during the nine-month adventure that lies ahead. In Big, Beautiful and Pregnant, Cornelia van der Ziel, a highly sought-after obstetrician who specializes in plus-size pregnancies, and Jacqueline Tourville, a plus-size mom who's lived the experience, offer a warm, witty, medically-sound guide for overweight women who want the skinny on what to expect from pregnancy and childbirth. They answer all the questions pregnant moms may have, including: Is my pregnancy doomed to be difficult because I'm overweight? How can I find a sympathetic doctor? Am I destined for a c-section because of my extra pounds? Are there special medical risks to my unborn child? Where can I find maternity clothes in extra-large sizes? A unique combination of impeccable medical advice, fun, and down-to-earth charm, Big, Beautiful and Pregnant provides plus-size pregnant women with information, inspiration, a sense of sisterhood, and reassurance that they can have a healthy and happy pregnancy.
Library Journal
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has stated that obese pregnant women are at greater risk for health problems, as are their babies. While there are many publications addressing "normal" pregnancy experiences, few deal with the plus-size population. Obstetrician Van der Ziel (Harvard Medical Sch.) and childbirth professional Tourville have written an extremely accessible and thorough guide for expectant mothers who are overweight or obese. Combining clinical experience and personal anecdotes, the authors have incorporated a wonderful blend of factual information with testimonials and support from women who have "been there." This concise book covers fertility, prenatal care, nutrition, exercise, a trimester-by-trimester description of what to expect, gestational diabetes (a common health risk for overweight women), labor and delivery, and postpartum life. This book is an important addition to the literature and is suitable for all public and consumer health libraries.-Mary Grace Flaherty, Sidney Memorial P.L., NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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