Opinion

Informal family caregivers play a crucial role in end-of-life care, especially in the community. However, family caregivers are known to have high needs and psychological morbidity, including fatigue, sleep problems, depression, anxiety and burnout. Palliative care aims to provide psychosocial support to patients and families facing terminal illness.

We focus attention on problems that are affecting the informal caregivers of patients with neurodegenerative disorders in the time of COVID‐19. The pandemic is increasing difficulties in the management of the frailest people and their isolation is actually even more tangible than it was in the past. The social restrictions and the lockdown of many activities are putting the system of care provided by informal caregivers on the edge of collapse.

The author urges social services professionals to improve upon social services to children and families, particularly families with special needs children. The author critiques neoliberal concepts that she believes have found their way into social services, states that contemporary social services work best for families with financial means, and systemic change is needed.

Family caregiving is a shared experience across people of all age groups, cultures, incomes, and education levels in the United States. Roughly 41 million Americans are serving as a caregiver of an older adult. Many family caregivers, sometimes called informal or unpaid caregivers, are relatives, friends, and neighbors who provide ongoing assistance to adults aged 50 and older with health or functional needs.

According to the literature, the family is now considered to be the most important resource for the care and support of a sick family member. Families are being increasingly invited and trained to play a utilitarian role, not just as family caregivers, but as healthcare agents. Healthcare institutions, based on neoliberal health policies, are encouraging them to perform increasingly complex and professionalized tasks. The burden associated with this expanded healthcare function, however, is significant (fatigue, emotional distress and exhaustion).

This case report details how occupational therapy treatment in an outpatient setting successfully guided the parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder and a history of prematurity from restrained syringe feedings to the acceptance of spoon feedings. Occupational therapy practitioners are qualified, needed and available to assess and treat feeding disorders in children with autism spectrum disorder and a history of prematurity. Family-centered practice must be utilized for successful outcomes in an outpatient service delivery model.

Communication and support for patients and family members can be challenging, especially when in-person visitation is limited or eliminated entirely. This article discusses how healthcare teams can promote family- centered care during periods of limited visitation.

The author discusses the importance of family-centered approach to care in nursing care, as well as the hidden effects of restricting family visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include the implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in hospitals, as well as the importance of effective communication, shared decision-making, and expert care to dying patients and their families.

As is the whole world, we are also fighting the coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic in Turkey, which complicates and affects all aspects of life. The pandemic can negatively psychosocially affect every segment of society. To successfully get through this pandemic, it is important to consider all individuals in society, including ourselves. Patients with Alzheimer's disease are considered vulnerable, more helpless; they do not have the capacity to make the right decisions and they need the care and help of someone else.