ABSTRACT
Family members play a leading part in homecare for the demented elderly. Support for family members by people who render professional care will only have an effect if the help offered is in accordance with the need for support by these family members. This requires insight into the burden of family members. To estimate the family carer's burden, health care professionals cannot make evaluations based only on their personal assessment of the situation. The opinion, that family members themselves, have of the situation will also have to contribute to this assessment. This idea of a dual evaluation of burden is the basis for the conceptual framework governing the research described in this chapter. The objective burden can be mapped out into specific aspects, and is distinguishable from the subjective burden.
This qualitative study examines how and why this distinction between objective and subjective ‘burden’ arises and illustrates this distinction by giving a detailed case example.
