The caregiving story: how the narrative approach informs caregiving burden

The burdens of giving care to a chronically ill or dependent family member can be overwhelming. The therapeutic utilization of narrative can assist elderly female caregivers to transform their feelings of depression and burden into a healthy acceptance of the required care and disabilities of the elder for whom they care. This technique, which assists clients to restory negative aspects of their perceived reality, has emerged from the theoretical framework of postmodernism. Using the narrative approach to a family case study involving a daughter and dependent mother, this article examines interventions that can facilitate the positive development of a client's caregiving story.