Joy Goldsmith

Caring for the Family Caregiver examines the high cost and poorly addressed exigencies of the family caregiver in chronic illness, including health literacy, palliative care, and health outcomes, through the prism of communication. This book uses an interdisciplinary approach to identify the impact of communication and its burdens on the caregiver and presents four caregiver profiles: the Manager, Carrier, Partner, and Lone caregiver, each emerging from a family system with different patterns of conversational sharing and expectations of conformity. By synthesizing current data assessing the experiences of caregivers, as well as integrating the narrative experiences of a range of caregivers living through a variety of illnesses and their specific demands, the authors deliver an unflinching gaze at the journey of the caregiver. With an author team comprised of three health communication researchers and a nurse and health literacy expert, this volume integrates literature addressing caregiver needs and burdens, communication theory and practice, palliative care and health literacy research, and the real stories of caregivers. Caring for the Family Caregiver presents the groundbreaking concept of the Caregiver Types and an innovative set of support resources to facilitate improved pathways to better care for the caregiver, making it an essential resource for providers, students, clinicians, policy makers and family caregivers alike.

This exceptional work explores the complexities of communication at one of the most critical stages of the life experience--during advanced, serious illness and at the end of life. Challenging the predominantly biomedical model that informs much communication between seriously ill and/or dying patients and their physicians, caregivers, and families, Sandra L. Ragan, Elaine M. Wittenberg-Lyles, Joy Goldsmith, and Sandra Sanchez-Reilly pose palliative care--medical care designed to comfort rather than to cure patients--as an antidote to the experience of most Americans at the most vulnerable juncture of their lives. With an author team comprised of three health communication scholars and one physician certified in geriatrics and palliative medicine, this volume integrates the medical literature on palliative care with that of health communication researchers who advocate a biopsychosocial approach to health care. Applying communication theories and insights to illuminate problems and to explain their complexities, the authors advocate a patient-centered approach to care that recognizes and seeks to lessen patients’ suffering and the many types of pain they may experience (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual) during life-threatening illness.

This exceptional work explores the complexities of communication at one of the most critical stages of the life experience--during advanced, serious illness and at the end of life. Challenging the predominantly biomedical model that informs much communication between seriously ill and/or dying patients and their physicians, caregivers, and families, Sandra L. Ragan, Elaine M. Wittenberg-Lyles, Joy Goldsmith, and Sandra Sanchez-Reilly pose palliative care--medical care designed to comfort rather than to cure patients--as an antidote to the experience of most Americans at the most vulnerable juncture of their lives. With an author team comprised of three health communication scholars and one physician certified in geriatrics and palliative medicine, this volume integrates the medical literature on palliative care with that of health communication researchers who advocate a biopsychosocial approach to health care. Applying communication theories and insights to illuminate problems and to explain their complexities, the authors advocate a patient-centered approach to care that recognizes and seeks to lessen patients’ suffering and the many types of pain they may experience (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual) during life-threatening illness.