• Responsibility
  • Anything from household care to banking and added responsibilities for help and care of the loved one may be redistributed if one partner is unable to fulfill their prior household jobs and responsibilities
• Intimacy
  • Facing the loss of a partner is often difficult in this culture but healthy coping with and adaptation to chronic illness depends on the couple's ability and willingness to address the loss of closeness and intimate relations
• Communication styles
  • Open communication best serves the changes that accompany illness. Discussion of feelings from a partner and listening without guilt is important.

• Meeting the needs of other family members
  • Family members beyond the care partners may have needs that go unmet during a health crisis. This should be openly acknowledged whenever possible. Plans should include an awareness of any unmet needs of each family member.

All of these spheres are affected. If the couple is near retirement they may have plans and dreams that will be affected. These losses should be acknowledged and grieved.