“I aim to fulfill my promise”: Dementia caregiving from the perspective of spouses and partners

“I aim to fulfill my promise”: Dementia caregiving from the perspective of spouses and partners
Journal of Applied Gerontology; Haley M. Shiff, Theresa A. Allison, Madina Halim, Kenneth E. Covinsky, Alexander K. Smith, Deborah E. Barnes, Jennie M. Gubner, Kara Zamora; 1/25
In the United States, spouses provide 17% of in-home care for people living with dementia. We found common features underlying the care provided by spouses/partners, including challenges and motivators guided by notions of loyalty and commitment. As cognition and function declined, care partners found the relationship increasingly difficult. They shared the feeling of being stuck as well as the loss of identity and freedom. This finding follows what Westrelin et al. (2024) describe in their study on spousal caregivers of partners living with dementia, in which spouses perceived changes not only in their partner but also in themselves and oscillated between their identity as a caregiver and as a spouse, highlighting the dynamic nature of caregiver identity construction within the context of caring for a partner living with dementia.