ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION For multiple reasons, we have begun to witness a dramatic increase in the need for family members to become involved in the care of their aging relatives. By the year 2030, an estimated 20% of the U.S. population will be 65 years of age or older (Koizumi, 1998). While the elderly population continues to increase, a growing burden has been placed on family caregivers by cutbacks in health care funding and in insurance coverage that have reduced the accessibility of outpatient and home-based care services, by abbreviated medical and psychiatric hospital stays, and by deinstitutionalization of psychiatric patients. Between 1988 and 1996, the number of caregiving households in the United States tripled to approximately 22 million. By 2003, an estimated one-fifth of U.S. households will provide care (Koizumi, 1998).
