To understand and help the "institutionalized family," caretakers need to:

• Consider the family system as a client.
• Recognize how disruptive chronic illness and institutionalization will be to the family system.
• Teach families about disease, its course and the possible effects on their relative and themselves.
• Support and assist families by teaching them in areas that are new for them, such as how to visit and respond to a demented or unresponsive relative.
• Encourage their participation in planning and providing care and the setting of goals for care and living.