Life-course and severe mental illness: Implications for caregiving within the family of later life

This analysis applies a life-course perspective to the study of family caregiving for persons with severe and persistent mental illness in later life. This involves understanding how family caregiving is impacted by changing socio-historical trends as well as recent discoveries about the course and treatment of serious mental illness. Application of new research on aging and psychiatric disability as well as results from studies of caregiver burden and satisfaction in older families can enrich the study of both familial coping and life-course social science.