Expanding occupational therapy’s role in caregiver interventions

Caregiving is a demanding role and often comes with psychosocial and physical challenges. Occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) are well-positioned to provide support to serve the needs of caregivers. A growing body of literature explores the experiences of informal caregivers (Stratmann et al., 2021), who are unpaid family members, friends, or relatives providing care for a loved one with a disability (AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving [NAG], 2020). According to AARP and NAG (2020), more than 40 million informal caregivers offered support to individuals with at least one disabling condition in 2020. This number is expected to rise with the increasing prevalence of chronic conditions among older adults (Stone, 2015).