Sensitive conversations: communication skills for families caring for an older relative
Funded by the National Institute on Aging
Scientist(s):
Blair Irvine, PhD
,
Natasha Beauchamp, MSc
One in four households in the United States (22 million) includes someone who is caring for an older adult. The average family caregiver is a 46-year-old woman who works full time, has a teenager still at home, and spends eighteen or more hours a week caring for her mother.
The Oregon Center for Applied Science, Inc., conducted interviews with social workers and employee assistance program providers and discovered that families faced with eldercare issues often suffer from poor communication, not much empathy, and minimal team-building skills. Well-meaning adult children juggling multiple conflicting demands rush to find solutions for their parents’ problems without stopping to find out what the parents want to do and whether the parents even think a problem exists. Many conflicts down the road are rooted in this initial push to "fix the problem" and could be avoided with patience and a more cooperative approach.
To address this source of family discord, we developed Caregiver’s Friend: Sensitive Conversations. This Internet multimedia program was designed to help family members work together with an older relative—using problem-solving techniques, active listening strategies, and negotiation skills—to create a plan that will work for all involved. Viewers can listen to the thoughts of caregivers as they constructively respond to difficult dynamics such as accusations, personal insults, and manipulations using fear and guilt. Video dramatizations model effective ways to begin and end a talk, especially when there has been little to no agreement. Onscreen testimonials enable viewers to learn stress reduction techniques for handling their own feelings of anger, sadness, guilt, resentment, anxiety, and helplessness while caring for an older relative.
Sensitive Conversations was evaluated in a randomized clinical trial that included 38 employed family caregivers (persons who work outside the home in addition to attending to the needs of an older relative with a chronic condition). All participants watched a series of videotaped interchanges between a senior and her middle-aged daughter. They then rated the various responses of the daughter and indicated their own willingness and confidence to use each of the techniques. Half the employee caregivers watched Sensitive Conversations and then viewed the same video interchanges, rating their new perceptions about the techniques presented. The other half of the participants watched an unrelated video about healthy eating and then responded to the video interchanges again.
Those who watched the program were better able to choose the most correct response in the videotaped interchanges. They also expressed greater confidence in their ability to actually apply the techniques than did those who did not see the program. Because these results offered significant promise for helping family caregivers, the National Institute on Aging has funded an expanded study: Multimedia support for family members caring for an older adult with chronic illness.
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