Caregiver Self-Test

 

Ask yourself the following eight questions about your caregiving:

 
YES
NO

 

Do you ever find yourself trying “to do it all?”

 
YES NO

 

Have you felt a loss of privacy and/or personal time?

 
YES NO

 

Do you ever say to yourself “I should be able to...,” “I can never…,” or similar statements?

 
YES NO

 

Have you had difficulty making decisions?

 
YES NO

 

Do you ever ignore your feelings or find that they are overwhelming?

 
YES NO

 

Do you feel that your family or others just don’t understand what you are going though as a caregiver?

 
YES NO

 

Has your sleep been disturbed because of caring for a loved one?

 
YES NO

 

Do you resist seeking, asking for, or accepting help?

 

 

A ‘yes’ to any of these questions indicates an area of self-care you might want to work on.  Check out the Powerful Tools for Caregivers class to get help with overcoming these caregiver dilemmas. 

 

Caregiver Self-Test adapted from Caregiver Self-Care developed by Legacy Caregiver Services in Portland, OR 503/413-8018 and Caregiver self-assessment questionnaire: How are you? developed by American Medical Association, SIA:08-0011: PDF: 1-08.