ABSTRACT
Over the last decade, research on the effects of providing care to a seriously ill or disabled family member has mushroomed into one of the largest and most conceptually sophisticated literatures in health psychology and gerontology. As a result, we can now say with confidence that although there is wide variability in reactions to the caregiving experience, substantial percentages of caregivers are emotionally distressed by the caregiving role (e.g., Gatz, Bengtson, & Blum, 1990; Pruchno, Kleban, Michaels, & Dempsey, 1990). Surprisingly, however, researchers have paid little attention to the extent to which caregiver emotional distress is due to the losses they experience in the context of providing care to a family member who no longer is able to occupy roles on which the relationship was formerly grounded. In this chapter, we consider a number of issues relevant to caregiver loss. We begin with a brief discussion of the current state of knowledge on the effects of caregiving on the emotional well-being of caregivers. We then turn to the current state of the literature on the role of loss in caregiver well-being. Next, we discuss a body of theoretical work that may inform the study of loss among caregivers and present some preliminary support for our theoretical position.
