Market coverage note: This article draws on both Korean and U.S. sources. Each piece of information is labeled in the body with 🇰🇷 Korea or 🇺🇸 U.S. to indicate which country it applies to.
Have you ever caught yourself in the mirror one day and thought, 'What was it that I used to enjoy?' When each day is filled with being at your parents' side, there are moments when the role of caregiver feels as though it has draped itself over your entire life. There is a name for this feeling. Researchers call it 'role engulfment' — the phenomenon in which caregiving absorbs a person's identity, time, and energy whole.
🇺🇸 U.S. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance (caregiver.org), which studies the health of family caregivers, caregiving can lead to a sense of lost identity, diminished self-esteem, and a feeling of helplessness over one's own life. Caregivers have been reported to show lower levels of self-acceptance and a reduced sense of personal efficacy compared with non-caregivers. This is not a matter of willpower — it is a psychological phenomenon that occurs structurally.
🇺🇸 U.S. A large-scale survey conducted in fall 2024 across 10 U.S. states, involving 4,573 family caregivers, yielded a striking finding. Only 66% initially identified themselves as 'caregivers,' but after researchers explained the definition of 'caregiver,' that figure rose to 74%. In other words, a significant number of people who care for their parents every day are not even aware that they themselves are caregivers. The study emphasizes that recognizing oneself as a caregiver is the very first key to accessing support services.
🇰🇷 Korea A similar pattern has been confirmed in domestic research. According to a 2024 study published by the 한국보건사회연구원 (Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs), caregivers whose daily lives become organized around caregiving find their own priorities pushed aside, experiencing what the study describes as 'a precarious tightrope walk between caregiving and social roles.' Although this research focused on young adult caregivers, it resonates equally with middle-aged and older caregivers. Given that formal support emerged as a meaningful factor associated with caregiving satisfaction, not shouldering the burden alone is essential.
So what can be done to keep from losing one's sense of self? Researchers recommend 'small acts of recovery' over 'sweeping change.' Doing something unrelated to caregiving for even 30 minutes once a week, sending a message to an old friend, setting aside a quiet moment to drink tea alone with favorite music playing — these are the suggestions they offer. The more moments accumulate in which you perceive yourself as 'the person you were before becoming a caregiver,' the more your psychological resilience is maintained. A 2025 longitudinal study of dementia caregivers similarly found that caregivers with lower depressive symptoms and lower burden tended to maintain higher levels of self-continuity and identity resolution.
🇺🇸 U.S. Institutional support is also gradually expanding. In the United States, the RAISE Family Caregivers Act (RAISE Family Caregivers Act), enacted in 2018, provided the foundation for the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers, established in 2022. The theme of National Family Caregivers Month 2024 was 'I Care...,' placing at its center the importance of caregivers recognizing themselves as caregivers — that is, the recovery of self-identity. In addition, through the creation of new Medicare billing codes, healthcare providers are now able to bill insurance for caregiver education for patients with chronic illness or disability.
🇰🇷 Korea In Korea, the 남녀고용평등법 (Act on Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance) guarantees family care leave (가족돌봄휴가) of up to 10 days per year, usable in single-day increments, and family care sabbatical (가족돌봄휴직) of up to 90 days per year. However, according to a 2021 survey by the 고용노동부 (Ministry of Employment and Labor), approximately 45% of respondents said they were unable to actually use these provisions due to workplace culture or difficulties securing replacement workers, leaving the strengthening of practical effectiveness as a remaining challenge. Simply knowing these provisions exist opens up options.
Sources: Family Caregiver Alliance (caregiver.org, Caregiver Health); Nadash et al. (2025), "Does Family Caregiver Self-Identification Matter?" (NIH/PMC); 노혜진 (2024), 「가족돌봄청년 일상의 재구성과 정서적 경험」, 한국보건사회연구원 보건사회연구 44(2); Mitchell et al. (2025), "Identity Resolution in the Context of Dementia Caregiving" (NIH/PMC); Caregiver Action Network / John A. Hartford Foundation; National Family Caregivers Month 2024; NASHP, "National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers Progress and Impact Report 2024"; 고용노동부 일생활균형 포털 (worklife.kr); 국가법령정보센터 남녀고용평등법 제22조의2; 김아롱·정익중 (2023), family caregiving-related prior research (cited by 한국보건사회연구원).
Note: This article was compiled by AI from the sources cited above. We strive for accuracy, but for decisions about your specific situation, please confirm the latest guidance from a professional or the relevant agency.