Many people wrongly believe that when
people reach old age, their families place them in nursing homes. They are left
in the (67) of strangers .for the rest of their lives. Their
(68) children visit them only occasionally, but more often,
they do not have any (69) visitors. The truth is that this
idea is an unfortunate myth--an (70) story. In fact, family
members provide over 80 percent of the care (71) elderly
people need. Samuel Preston, a sociologist, studied (72) the
American family is changing. He reported that by the time the (73)
American couple reaches 40 years of age, they have more parents than
children. (74) , because people today live longer after an
illness than people did years (75) , family members must
provide long term care. More psychologists have found that all caregivers
(76) a common characteristic: All caregivers believe that
they are the best (77) for the job. In other words, they all
felt that they (78) do the job better than anyone else.
Social workers (79) caregivers to find out why they took
(80) the responsibility of caring for an elderly relative.
Many caregivers believed they had (81) to help their
relative. Some stated that helping others (82) them feel
more useful. Others hoped that by helping (83) now, they
would deserve care when they became old and (84) . Caring for
the elderly and being taken care of can be a (85) satisfying
experience for everyone who might be (86)
.