The feeling of helplessness

As a researcher on the topic of caregiving, I often come across the caregivers' recollections of their moments of helplessness in ...

Kudos to single adult caregivers

At a symposium focusing on grandparent hood, I was heartened to hear from a participant about how a seemingly unrelated topic to her s...

An inspiring Caregiver

I have met many caregivers in the course of my research work and counted the cheerful ones like Janet Koh whom I first met in April...

Moving into the “Ready” mode in caregiving

Despite knowing that our senior loved ones may one day need help with care, the truth is we rarely prepare ourselves for it – not u...

Caregiving-in-place

A fortnight ago I travelled to Fukuoka which is situated in Southern part of Japan. During my stay in Fukuoka, I visited a day care s...

Caregivers may also face “Social Isolation”

We often hear of the voices of social isolation for elders, especially among those who are living alone. But have you ever heard ab...

Music time for Caregivers and their loved ones

On a Saturday morning late last month, I visited the Crossings  Café  in Singapore which held a music event called "Memories Café...

Fall Alert

My father who just turned 80 maintains an active lifestyle with regular exercise and various social activities. One day, we noticed ...

A glimpse on Japan: ‘kodokushi’ 2- achieving zero ‘kodokushi’

In one of the earlier blog, I introduced the Japanese word ‘kodokushi’ which has gained much media attention in the recent years in Ja...

A glimpse on Japan: Reaching out to prevent ‘kodokushi’

Kodokushi ( 孤独死)  – lonely death (dying in loneliness) Although this is a Japanese word, the use of it has become so common that it...

A glimpse on Japan: Urgent call for caregiver support

This morning, as I switched on the television in a hotel room in Japan, a piece of news immediately caught my attention. An older...

Letting the younger generation share

I once conducted a study aiming to understand the inter-generational dynamics of middle aged caregivers and their young adult or te...

A glimpse on Japan: Caring for Caregivers

In super-aged Japan, the awareness of the dilemma facing caregivers of demented seniors first surfaced in 1972 with the release of the...