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Caregivers as managers of subjective wellbeing: a homeostatic perspective

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journal contribution
posted on 2005-12-01, 00:00 authored by Robert CumminsRobert Cummins
Background: This paper proposes that the adequacy of service delivery and caregiving to people who are disabled should be assessed using two criteria. One is the objective circumstance of living, which should be at a standard acceptable to the community at large. The other is a level of subjective wellbeing (SWB) within the normal range. Method: This latter criterion is a novel conception based on an understanding that SWB is homeostatically managed to lie normally within a narrow range of values. Results: People who have a disability are more likely than usual to have a fragile homeostatic system because of the additional life challenges imposed by their disability. Conclusions: The role of a caregiver is to provide resources and protection against strong threats to homeostasis, thereby ensuring that the person in their care has a normal-range level of SWB.

History

Journal

Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARID

Volume

18

Issue

4

Pagination

335 - 344

Publisher

BILD Publications

Location

Clevedon, England

ISSN

1360-2322

eISSN

1468-3148

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2005, BILD Publications