Abstract
This qualitative study examined the ways social workers empower caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD), through psychoeducational interventions of community services. Social workers in the field of aging may be the only informant of available support services for persons facing AD, so caregivers should not be overlooked while providing resources. Data was collected through nine semi-structured interviews to analyze the personal experience of social workers currently working with caregivers of persons with AD. This study interpreted the findings through deductive analysis of common themes from the interviews. The four themes from this study were: causes of caregiver burden, the need for psychoeducation, caregiver strengths to provide care, and social work support to caregivers. Three subthemes emerged including caregiver role identity, resiliency, and empowering caregivers. The results from this study provide strong indication for the role of social workers to provide support for caregivers in order to continue providing quality care. Implications suggest need for a caregiver assessment tool to allow social workers to further explore and discuss caregiver service expectations, awareness, and knowledge of various community-based services to encourage the caregiver to be involved in the plan of care for persons with AD.