Genogram -Tools to Relieve a Family Caregiver-

Blog 1 Aug 6^th Tools to Relive Family Caregiver 

A geriatric care manager ‘s assessment of the family caregiver is critical. Caregivers can and do fall apart. But what tools do you use to solve the caregiver problems you found in your care plan?

If you already did your caregiver assessment- great.  But the extended family of the care receiver   (client) should be assessed to find their strengths, weaknesses, dangers and real ability to help render caregiving services

Using a tool called a genogram can really show you the family on a page. A good genogram can be helpful in assessing the care receiver’s family support network and each relative’s relationship to the older client. Your genogram when paired with a psycho social assessment, can help you assess whether the older client is living with a helpful spouse or partner, living with a difficult spouse, has relationship with an ex spouse, has cooperative and supportive children or grandchildren, has fighting or alienated children or grandchildren, has warring or alienated stepchildren or adoptive, has several children but only one child who “does it all,”.

In other words you pull up a traffic light, it  is green, yellow or dangerous red.  The genogram also can help tell the GCM whether you have ex spouses or partners who want to participate as caregivers and what their emotional relationship is the care receiver. In other words is there green-lighted support or red saying stop here-when the family caregiver desperately needs your GPS to find that that new road.