Am I just being helpful or am I a caregiver?

Caregiving is the act of selflessly caring for a loved one. On the Mantelzorgelijk website you’ll find the most important questions about caregiving. You’ll get clear answers – without the complicated caregiving terminology – and helpful tips. In this article we answer the question ‘Am I a caregiver?’

One in six adults in The Netherlands provides more than eight hours of support to a loved one. More than half of these people take care of a parent. Six percent of caregivers takes care of a child. Women usually help manage (social) services, they help with personal hygiene or emotional support. Men more often help with the administrative work and arranging transportation.

Are you a caregiver?

There is a difference between ‘helping someone on a regular basis’ and ‘caregiving’. For instance, you spend half an hour or an hour a week with your loved one, helping out with small and large things like grocery shopping, administrative work, physical support. That takes up a considerable amount of time and energy. That is why the government has drawn up an official line, that indicates when you are officially a caregiver in the eyes of the municipal government, the insurance and the law. If your answer to the questions below is yes, you are allowed by law to call yourself a caregiver:

Have you been taking care of your loved one for more than three months?

Do you take care of your loved one more than eight hours a week?

If you answer one or both questions with ‘no’, it doesn’t mean that you are not taking care of a loved one, but in the eyes of the local government and the insurance you are not an official caregiver.

Selfless care

One of the official definitions of caregiving is as follows:

“Caregiving is the care for the chronically ill, the disabled and people in need of help, provided by relatives, friends, acquaintances and neighbors. Characteristic is the already existing tight relationship between the caregiver and the loved one he or she cares for. In addition it’s a matter of long-term, unpaid care.”

To selflessly care for a loved one. That’s the meaning of caregiving. Mantelzorgelijk is right here, for everyone who takes care of a loved one. Even if it’s only for a little while.

 ©2020 Mantelzorgelijk - Alle rechten voorbehouden
Back To Top