Scholarlink

In this chapter, we examine the work performed by family members and other informal carers in caring for a person with chronic illness who is experiencing loneliness. Carer accounts show that loneliness spreads beyond the person with chronic illness to those who care for them. We demonstrate how carers are expected to fulfill multiple social roles in the lonely person’s life, contributing to carers’ own isolation and loneliness. We show how carers’ loneliness is shaped by these role expectations and pressures,  insufficient informal and institutional support for caregiving, the loss of sense of self outside of their carer identity and feelings of being invisible and forgotten. We conclude by highlighting the critical need for structural changes and interventions that address caregivers’ loneliness experiences.

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Loneliness of Care, Care for the Lonely

  • 章节

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

查看全文
  • Sophie Lewis,
  • Karen Willis,
  • Lorraine Smith,
  • Maja Lindegaard Moensted,
  • Marika Franklin,
  • Leslie Dubbin,
  • Anne Rogers

摘要

In this chapter, we examine the work performed by family members and other informal carers in caring for a person with chronic illness who is experiencing loneliness. Carer accounts show that loneliness spreads beyond the person with chronic illness to those who care for them. We demonstrate how carers are expected to fulfill multiple social roles in the lonely person’s life, contributing to carers’ own isolation and loneliness. We show how carers’ loneliness is shaped by these role expectations and pressures,  insufficient informal and institutional support for caregiving, the loss of sense of self outside of their carer identity and feelings of being invisible and forgotten. We conclude by highlighting the critical need for structural changes and interventions that address caregivers’ loneliness experiences.