Caregiving can place added importance on the support of your spouse, friends, family members,
and the care recipient. Unfortunately, it can also put a strain on those relationships.
Maintaining healthy, mutually beneficial relationships requires deliberate effort. Open,
thoughtful communication is essential.
Next Step
Don’t try to handle caregiving alone. Start by asking for help with simple tasks.
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It’s also important to acknowledge the changes that caregiving brings.
Many caregivers discover wonderful new sides to their relationships once they embrace
“caregiver” as one of their important roles, alongside parent, wife, employee, sister,
husband, brother, and so on.
Because being a family caregiver is only one of your roles, it’s important to set limits on
the work you do. That means you don’t always have to say yes to requests or demands, whether
they come from medical personnel, family members, friends, or your loved one. The ability to
say “no” is one of the most important caregiving skills -- and one of the most
counterintuitive.
Many caregivers fear that if they don’t agree to all demands, they’re somehow failing their
loved one. Selectively turning down requests is an investment in your long-term ability to
say “yes.” It’s again a matter of choice. Just as you choose to provide care, you choose
when to protect your time by setting boundaries.
Content shown was developed in collaboration between AGIS and National Family Caregivers Association.
