We really never know when the time will come for us to become a caregiver for a loved one.

The requirements are taxing and caregivers are often faced with making life sacrifices. Being a caregiver is HARD. Being fully responsible for your loved one is HARD. 

 
There is no perfect transition into this role and I have seen firsthand how much pressure caregivers experience in their efforts. Working as a CNA in a nursing home has shown me how important it is to not only care for the residents, but also for their caregivers. 

Having worked with multiple Alzheimer’s residents, I understand the difficulties of providing efficient care. My goal has always been to help in any way that I can to take the stress off the caregiver’s shoulders. This could mean sitting with their loved one while they make a phone call, grabbing the resident and caregiver food and water, or even talking to the family about handling the situation. 

As little as these things sound, the efforts allow for the caregiver to take a break from constantly fulfilling their important role as caregiver and returning back to the role they played before the Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Moments like these are often what the caregivers need and always the care and support they deserve. 
 
Navigating life with a loved one who has been diagnosed or is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease is never easy.

Alzheimer's disease is a condition of the mind that causes lasting damage to the brain, posing negative effects on things like memory, thinking, and cognitive skills.  Living with Alzheimer's is difficult for both the loved one and their caregiver. 

Having efficient helpful support from others can have a major impact on lowering the level of stress a caregiver faces while navigating this role.

A caregiver is faced with a level of responsibility that is anything but easy. 

Challenges Confronting Family Caregivers of Person Navigating Alzheimer’s

There are many challenges that arise for a caregiver when guiding a person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s through their daily life. Adopting this role of caregiver can come with burdens and stressors. However, there are ways to overcome these challenges. 

Overwhelming life adjustment

Research done by Burgdorf et al. (2022) described the overwhelming life adjustment that the caregiver must adapt to. Many caregivers lack the information needed to provide efficient care right away to their loved ones. One caregiver in Burdorf et al.’s research quoted, “I didn’t know what kind of insurance he had. I didn’t know he had a senior plan for certain things that he needed.”

Attempting to manage and discuss all of these things can be very difficult. There are many factors to consider when providing assistance to an Alzheimer's person…and it can all become very overwhelming. Burgdorf, et al., discovered that some things needed to be discussed, such as insurance, wills, living situation, potential assistance services, and their ability to care and support the person.  

Overcoming the denial of the Alzheimer’s patient's declining health

Another challenge that caregivers can face is overcoming the denial of the Alzheimer’s patient's declining health, according to the findings from a study by Miller-Ott & Evans (2024). The decline sometimes occurs fast, whereas in other situations, it is more subtle. In some instances, people with Alzheimer’s begin to lose their normal body functions, such as walking, standing, and talking. As Miller-Ott & Evans discovered, caregivers were experiencing frustration when their loved ones could no longer complete tasks they could typically do on their own. 

Statements such as “why can’t she?” or “why aren’t you eating?” reflect the challenge of understanding the decrease in function. The visible decline is often difficult to accept as the caregiver…especially when their current state seems very far from what they were previously capable of. 

Navigating the role of a family caregiver

A third challenge that Nguyen et al. (2021) uncovers are the difficulties of navigating the role of a family caregiver. Caring for a person with Alzheimer's often has a lot of parts. Many families nominate the oldest child to take care of their parents. Providing this care can often become a full time task. 

A caregiver in their findings stated “I must do everything alone from A to Z. All the hard work, from start to end.” The caregiver might be asked to give some things up in order to provide the best possible care for their loved one. 

To care for a person with Alzheimer’s, caregivers sometimes must leave their jobs, have little to no time for themselves, and provide for the physical demands of their diagnosed loved one. These sacrifices can be detrimental to one’s well being and can cause a great amount of stress. 

Financial burden 

On top of this, Ashrafizadeh et al. (2021) reported the financial burden as another challenge that family caregivers often face. “Costs and economic burdens are imposed on families,” and handling these can sometimes be difficult. 

Alzheimer’s disease gradually declines the overall health of the person and could lead to needing more assistance than what the family caregiver can provide. Placing their loved one in a nursing home or memory care facility is often expensive and is not always covered by insurance. On top of this, prescriptions are costly and the individual will likely need multiple doctor visits following the diagnosis. This financial hardship can be a major stressor in families, especially in the ones that are already tight on money. 

Grief of shared memories

The grief of shared memories is another challenge family caregivers must face. It is very common for people with Alzheimer’s to lose their memory, specifically the names, faces, and memory of family members. As Duplantier and Williamson (2023) describe in their research, many caregivers felt as though they were constantly losing pieces of their loved one. Alzheimer's disease often causes a gradual loss of the ability to do things they could have done easily before the onset of disease. 

Within their findings, a caregiver participating in their study stated, “my dad was an aeronautical engineer. He went from being an extremely bright and capable man to not being able to close an Excel spreadsheet.” Watching their independence and abilities deteriorate is extremely difficult for family caregivers to witness.

Impacts Of Caregiver Challenges and Their Support Needs

Navigating a life with a loved one diagnosed with Alzheimer's can often be difficult, as mentioned before.

Research shows that there are some types of social support that the family caregiver could consider helpful when managing the challenges associated with caregiving for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease.

Understanding a caregiver’s needs is important to offer them relevant support. These types of support can include emotional, esteem, network, informational, and tangible support. All of these can work together to offer a different benefit to many caregiver’s situations. Offering them social support can put them in a place to provide the best possible care for their loved one. 

• Emotional Support
• Esteem Support
• Network Support
• Informational Support
• Tangible Support

Emotional support

Emotional support can be defined as messages that communicate expression of care, concern, and sympathy. 

Here’s how

Acknowledging the grief of shared memories opens up the door for a need for emotional support. Emotional support can be provided to caregivers in situations to communicate messages that express your care. Being sympathetic and caring to caregivers shows that you are there to support them. Although they are going through a hard time, sharing your sympathy could be the outlet that the caregiver needs.

Esteem support

Esteem support refers to those that communicate reassurance of worth, expression of liking for or confidence in the other person. 

Here’s how

Caregivers experience difficulties when navigating the role of a caregiver and could benefit from receiving esteem support. Although the caregivers are tasked with many things to account for and have made many sacrifices, they are doing so to support and care for their loved one. 

Being reassured of their worth as a caregiver would be beneficial in these situations to increase their confidence in taking on the difficult role. Providing esteem support to a caregiver could help them feel confident that their assistance to their loved one is not going unnoticed. 

Network support

Network social support messages offer a feeling of connection and belonging. Finding opportunities for caregivers to de-stress and connect with others who are going through similar health transitions can be an effective way to relieve stress. 

Here’s how

Finding opportunities to de-stress and connect with others who are going through similar health transitions can be an effective way to relieve stress. Evidence from a study by Duplantier and Williamson (2021) shows that attending social events in which Alzheimer's patients can participate is beneficial for caregivers, too. 

A participant in their study stated, “in the desert, our local Alzheimer’s Association was excellent. My husband and I went twice a week to Club Journey. There were chair exercises, then cards, and dominos with other caregivers and loved ones, then lunch.” These events allowed caregivers to socialize with other family members who were also caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s. 

Being part of a community through participation in social events for the caregiver and the patient creates a sense of belonging for them. Health communities should continue creating and supporting social events for Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers.

Tangible support

Tangible support is defined as money, physical intervention, and material aid provided to assist a person. The financial challenge of caregiving can be extremely difficult to manage; tangible support could be of great benefit in a situation like this. 

Here’s how

Assistance with money and taking on some of the difficult caregiving tasks could all alleviate some stress from the caregiver. Caring for a loved one can often be expensive, so offering this financial type of assistance could help the caregiver provide the best possible support for their loved one. 

Physical aid such as added support while walking and assistance with daily tasks like eating or getting dressed can be provided to offer tangible support to caregivers. 

A second helpful supportive message was also discovered in the qualitative research done by Mahalli et al. (2024). Describing the positive effects of tangible support, a caregiver from their study stated, “I get help from my children. For example, for daily cleaning or changing diapers.” Because of their help with the endless tasks, the caregiver concluded, “I can sleep some more. I thank God that the children are with us.” Caring for a family member with Alzheimer's disease can significantly reduce a caregiver's free time and prevent them from enjoying activities they once loved.

Receiving support with daily tasks such as having food brought to them or assistance with cleaning and changing diapers of their loved one with Alzheimer's can help alleviate some of the physical burden on caregivers.

Informational support

Informational support offers messages that communicate advice or details about something or someone. This type of social support can provide the best opportunity for their loved one to receive the best possible care. 

Looking back at the challenge of an overwhelming life adjustment, informational support is needed to alleviate some of the stress from the overwhelmed caregiver. If this type of support were given to the caregiver, they could potentially be more cognizant of their actions and choices for their loved one. If advice and details were provided to the caregiver, it is likely that they could have been more aware of what to do in their current situation. 

Abassa, et al. (2021) provides a good example of this in their research. Within their findings, informational support was emphasized as helpful support for the caregiver. Access to relevant advice helps caregivers understand how they should be caring for their loved one with Alzheimer’s Disease. Being equipped with information allows caregivers to assist their loved one in a way that is both useful and effective. In their study, a 47-year-old male caregiver stated, “Telling me how individuals with dementia behave such as beating people and overreacting… helped me to take good care of her.” 

Growing an understanding of the disease allows caregivers and others to connect with the loved one and briefly understand or grasp what they are going through. Helpful social support such as relevant advice not only helps provide for the caregiver, but can also benefit the lives of those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. When the caregiver has learned a better understanding of how to care for their loved one, their actions and support are more effective. Having this knowledge can also be of use in the future to explain the person’s health decline or the reasons for certain behaviors. 

Here’s how

If the caregiver had been better equipped with the information and knowledge of their loved one’s potential decline, they could have provided them with the support that was needed.

The person with Alzheimer’s is often unaware of their level of decline. Providing informational support to the caregiver could allow them to communicate with their loved one in a way that is both effective and beneficial. 

Originally from Plattsmouth, Nebraska, Jessica is a Junior at Coe College. Transferring from Iowa Western Community College, Jessica is continuing her education to one day become a surgical nurse. In addition to this, she chose to minor in Communication Studies and Health and Society Studies because of her interest in the influences of group interactions and team work in the medical field. These are important skills to learn for both her career and also her personal future. Jessica plans to graduate in May of 2027 and begin working as a nurse immediately following graduation.

Note: For my research, I read and examined 6 different articles providing qualitative data on caregivers providing for loved ones with Alzheimer’s. The researched articles summarized and examined in this article were published within 2021 and 2025:

References
Abaasa, C., Obua, O., Wakida, E., and Rukundo, Z. (2021). A qualitative investigation of the psychosocial services utilised by care-givers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in southwestern Uganda. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/276FBB23E31F6E15
7B9BAC664B9D5425/S0144686X21001276a.pdf/div-class-title-a-qualitative-investigation-of-thE-psychosocial-services-utilised-by-care-givers-of-patients-with-alzheimer-s-disease-and-related-dementias-in-southwestern-uganda-div.pdf

Alzheimer’s Disease. (2025a). Retrieved from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9164-alzheimers-disease 

Ashrafizadeh, H., Gheibizadeh, M., Rassouli, M., Hajibabaee, F., & Rostami, S. (2021). Explain the experience of family caregivers regarding care of Alzheimer's patients: A qualitative study.
Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.699959/full 

Burgdorf, G., Reckrey, J., & Russel, D. (2022). “Care for Me, Too”: A Novel Framework for Improved Communication and Support Between Dementia Caregivers and the Home Health CareTeam. 
Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/63/5/874/6783228 

Duplantier, S. C., & Williamson, F. A. (2023). Barriers and facilitators of health and well-being in informal caregivers of dementia patients: A qualitative study. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054328 

Miller-Ott, A. E. (2024). Proximal Discourses in residential facility care providers’ sense-making of their communication with family members of a loved one with Alzheimer's disease. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10410236.2024.2364394 

Nguyen, H., Nguyen, T., Tran, D., & Hinton, L. (2021). It’s extremely hard but it’s not a burden”: A qualitative study of family caregiving for people living with dementia in Vietnam. Retrieved from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8629297/

Sadeghi-Mahalli, N., Mohammadi-Shahboulaghi, F., Arsalani, N., Fallahi-Khoshknab, M., Foroughan, M., Atazadeh, M. (2024). Getting sincere and efficient support: A grounded theory study of older spousal caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197457224003355