Engagement in Self‐Care Activities among Dementia Caregivers: A Content Analysis of Micro‐Longitudinal Digital Journal Data

This study sheds new light on the ways caregivers interpret what "counts" as self-care when reporting on daily self-care engagement. While participants indicated that they engage in self-care most days, some activities that they nominated may be rudimentary rather than restorative. Other tasks related to carrying out important personal roles (e.g., as an employee, as an aunt) demonstrate that dementia-caregivers may interpret opportunities to foster other aspects of their identities as essential self-care. These findings have implications for new approaches to educate caregivers on self-care and encourage caregivers to engage in self-care interventions.