#052- When Aging Parents Need Help: Family Caregiving Roles & Impacts with Dr. Sara Qualls

03/23/21 • 52 min

Mental Health + Aging with Dr. Regina Koepp

When older adults begin to experience physical or mental health changes, like with dementia disorders, for example, it can be difficult to know the steps to take when aging parents need help. It can be especially difficult for family caregivers to know how to balance autonomy and independence with concerns for risk and safety.

In this episode, Dr. Sara Qualls, clinical geropsychologist and Kraemer Family Professor of Aging Studies at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS), will discuss common role transitions in older families, offer tips for balancing safety and autonomy, and provide tips on having tough conversations with aging loved ones with dignity and respect.

Here's a peak into my interview with Dr. Qualls:

[10:04] What are some of the common role transitions in older families?
[13:34] Worried about your aging parent's safety or capacity to make decisions? Steps to take when your aging parent needs help.
[20:11] Feeling guilty about caregiving decisions? How to repair ruptures in the relationship with your older loved one.
[22:59] Learn how to balance your older loved one's safety with autonomy
[27:04] Every family is unique and will make changes in line with their patterns as a family. Learn more here.
[33:12] Why you may want to reconsider your use of the term, "parenting your parents"
[37:51] How to invite your older loved one back into the relationship while you're caring for them?
[45:27] Important considerations for families with a history of toxic or painful relationships.
[47:55] Interested in caregiver family therapy? Tips for finding a family therapist.

Click here to visit the show notes page to learn more.
Click here to listen to the podcast
FREE GUIDES

Download the Memory Loss Guide here
Interested in working with me?
- For Families: Click here
- For Professionals: Click here

Help others find this show by subscribing and leaving a review wherever you listen to the podcast, or here on i-tunes.
--
DISCLAIMER: The material on this site is for informational and educational purposes only. Any comments Dr. Koepp may make on the TV Show, blog, or in response to an individual’s story or comments should not be construed as establishing a psychologist-patient relationship between Dr. Koepp and the individual. None of Dr. Koepp's show, website, social media, comments, or group information should be considered a substitute for individualized medical or mental health assessment, diagnosis, or treatment. Dr. Koepp is only representing herself in her TV Show, blogs, and on her website.

Have a topic idea? Send us a text.

PROFESSIONALS: Grab your free guide to working with older adults here
Attention Social Workers, Therapists, Counselors, Psychologists, Aging Life Care Experts... Click here to get Continuing Education Credits

Here's a peak into my interview with Dr. Qualls:

[10:04] What are some of the common role transitions in older families?
[13:34] Worried about your aging parent's safety or capacity to make decisions? Steps to take when your aging parent needs help.
[20:11] Feeling guilty about caregiving decisions? How to repair ruptures in the relationship with your older loved one.
[22:59] Learn how to balance your older loved one's safety with autonomy
[27:04] Every family is unique and will make changes in line with their patterns as a family. Learn more here.
[33:12] Why you may want to reconsider your use of the term, "parenting your parents"
[37:51] How to invite your older loved one back into the relationship while you're caring for them?
[45:27] Important considerations for families with a history of toxic or painful relationships.
[47:55] Interested in caregiver family therapy? Tips for finding a family therapist.

Click here to visit the show notes page to learn more.
Click here to listen to the podcast
FREE GUIDES

Download the Memory Loss Guide here
Interested in working with me?
- For Families: Click here
- For Professionals: Click here

Have a topic idea? Send us a text.

Previous Episode

#051- The 12 Best Brain Health Recommendations to Reduce Risk for Dementia

Researchers have been investigating brain health recommendations that help to reduce our risk for cognitive decline in older adulthood. Many of the tips that I'm going to share today are really about how to live your healthiest life and achieve optimal physical health, brain health, and mental health in older adulthood.

You may already be doing many of these recommendations. As you listen to this episode, take notes and make a list. Put a check mark by items that you are currently doing and a star next to the items that you need to be doing more of to achieve optimal health. At the end of the episode, give yourself some praise for what you're already doing, then choose one of the starred items to focus on to optimize your brain health and mental health.

Let's dive in to the 12 evidence-based brain health recommendations to reduce your risk for cognitive decline and dementia and promote mental well being:

Here's a peak into the episode

[02:55] Brain Health Recommendation #1: Engage in your social life by spending time with friends and in your community
[07:29] Brain Health Recommendation #2: Avoid excessive alcohol & other harmful substances
[09:49] Brain Health Recommendation #3: Eat a nutritious diet
[13:54] Brain Health Recommendation #4: Maintain heart health (cardiovascular health)
[16:01] Brain Health Recommendation #5: Engage in physical activity
[19:36] Brain Health Recommendation #6: Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night (consistently)
[23:33] Brain Health Recommendation #7: Find a sense of meaning and purpose in life
[25:11] Brain Health Recommendation #8: Think positively about aging
[30:22] Brain Health Recommendation #9: Engage in enjoyable activities
[30:55] Brain Health Recommendation #10: Be mindful of medications contraindicated for older adults
[32:32] Brain Health Recommendation #11: Avoid smoking and other environmental toxins
[33:52] Brain Health Recommendation #12: Get treatment for mental health conditions, like anxiety and depression

Click here to visit the show notes page to learn more.
Click here to listen to the podcast
FREE GUIDES

Download the Memory Loss Guide here
Interested in working with me?
- For Families: Click here
- For Professionals: Click here

Have a topic idea? Send us a text.

Next Episode

#053- Older Adults Caring for Adult Children with Autism with Lois Shingler

Over 75% of adults with developmental disabilities live at home with family. There is a growing population of aging caregivers of adults with developmental disabilities, in part due to increased lifespan and extensive waiting lists for residential services (The Arc Autism Now).

In honor of World Autism Day on 4/2/21, today's podcast episode focuses on older adults who are caring for adult children with autism or other Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDDs).

In this interview, Lois Shingler, an attorney and co-founder of Peter and Paul’s Place shares her experience of being 70 years old while caring for Paul, her 45 year old son with Autism. She also provides several tips for other aging parents caring for their adult children with IDDs. Here's a peek inside the episode:

[10:45] Lois describes her experience of entering older adulthood while caring for Paul, her 45 year old son with Autism
[17:53] Learn what you need to plan for if you're an older adult caring for an adult with special needs, from transportation, to housing, to finances, to who will assist your loved one.
[28:00] A man on his deathbed who feared for his son who was living with Schizophrenia.
[31:50] The emotional angst of planning for who will care for your son with special needs when you are no longer able to.
[42:31] Lois shares her secret to maintaining her mental health through it all.

Click here to visit the show notes page to learn more.
Click here to listen to the podcast
FREE GUIDES

Download the Memory Loss Guide here
Interested in working with me?
- For Families: Click here
- For Professionals: Click here

Have a topic idea? Send us a text.

Mental Health + Aging with Dr. Regina Koepp - #052- When Aging Parents Need Help: Family Caregiving Roles & Impacts with Dr. Sara Qualls

Transcript

Dr. Sara Qualls 0:00
Sometimes families downplay, "Well, you know, yeah, she has some serious memory problems. But basically she's doing okay. Well, she just drives in the neighborhood." You know, they have all kinds of ways of downplaying the seriousness of what they're seeing. And be partly because they are afraid that the elder won't respond to them. I sometimes use the example of families that if you left here today, and you went to your loved ones home, and she was on the floor, and sh