Family Caregiver support for the elderly
Introduction
The topic on family care giver support groups for the elderly has become a common issue amongst United States citizens in the United States and other countries across the globe. The Population of the United States, for example, is made up of a significant percentage of people aged 80 years and above. The group is characterized by people who have cognitive impairments or find it difficult to undertake various physical activities like walking, bathing among others. Since the number of elderly people is constantly increasing, there is a significant gap between the demand and supply for family caregivers which mean the situation will continue to worsen if a solution is not reached. There is also the issue of the nature of the American families whereby most people do not have children, are divorced or have fallen off with family members and therefore lack caregivers in their old age. Although care giving is seen as a moral obligation, family caregivers are at risk of financial constraints and mental risks and must therefore be provided with the resources and assistance needed to make care giving a less tasking obligation than it already is.
Rationale
The responsibility of taking care of the elderly has a lot of challenges as it involves taking care of another person on top of carrying out other duties. Most family caregivers have to take on the responsibility of looking after the elderly in the family and still take on their duties and responsibilities. While taking care of an elderly is more of an obligation than a duty, family caregivers find it challenging because they also have to handle responsibilities from their places of work as well as the family (Brito et al, 2018). In today’s society, family caregivers must also learn medical and technical procedures that are involved when taking care of old people. Taking care of the old involves the use of various medical and technological devices, giving medications, monitoring the symptoms, noting side effects that may come about as a result of taking specific medications among other tasking requirements (Brito et al, 2018). The strain of taking on these responsibilities combined with the emotional stress caused by seeing a loved one in such a helpless state makes family care giving more challenging and family caregivers need all the help they can get if they are to offer the best level of care to their loved ones.
In some occurrences, care giving brings about a sense of confidence which could give one a sense of purpose to those that find taking care of others fulfilling. In such a scenario, the caregiver places a lot of emphasis in improving their skills as they strive to give the best level of care to the elderly. While such outcomes do occur, they are rare as care giving tends to take a toll on the caregivers due to the added responsibilities it creates (NASEM, 2016). Various researches conducted on the effect of caring for the elderly suggests that caregivers are more likely to experience anxiety, depression, and emotional distress and even tend to isolate themselves from society compared to non caregiver families. They are also more likely to have poor physical health, high stress hormones and are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases. The effect is however different depending on the duration the care giver spends with the elderly; the most affected being those that spend longer hours with elderly people suffering from other medical conditions (NASEM, 2016). This is especially because the caregivers tend to be strained as a result of their economic status; they tend to believe that those under their care are suffering even when they may not be; have no option but to take care of the elderly person; and lack social support.
Objectives
The main objective is to demonstrate the challenges that family care givers for the elderly face and what can be done to make care giving easier. Since the number of elderly people that need caregivers is on the increase, there is need to create platform that will see family caregivers get the help and support they need to assist the elderly without being affected by the added responsibilities. The goal is therefore to demonstrate how giving assistance to family caregivers through monetary support and training will reduce the negative outcomes associated with family care giving.
Practical considerations
Family caregivers often have to readjust their schedules to fit care giving into their daily routines. Often times, the caregivers are employed and have to find a way to balance employment, social life and taking care of the elderly. Since most of their time is spent at their workplace, finding time to take care of the elderly requires people to spend less time working and this reduces the amount of money they make (FCA, 2018). Others may even lose their jobs in cases where employers are demanding and this negatively impacts their finances. Other than losing jobs, there is also the risk that those who remain employed miss out on promotions, bonuses as they have to spend time taking care of the elderly instead of promoting their careers. With the need for medication, equipment and other services that the elderly need, financial needs keep on increasing and losing a job of missing out on a promotion adds on to the strain associated with family care giving for the elderly.
Procedures
The first step to assist family caregivers for the elderly should be to enact policies that offer financial assistance to family caregivers. A good example of this would be to offer paid leave to family caregivers so as to give them time off work to take care of the elderly without incurring any form of financial loss (Eden & Schulz, 2018). Employers can also be instructed to offer special work schedules for family caregivers to allow them the time needed to take care of the elderly without fear that the added responsibilities will affect their work. The financial assistance and freedom provided will ensure that family caregivers have the time and money needed to take care of the elderly and therefore reduce the amount of stress caused by financial constrains.
Other than offering financial assistance, society needs to have a better understanding on the challenges involved when taking care of the elderly. While taking care of the old is a family responsibility, the state of the family unit especially in the United States should focus on assisting the elderly not only for family members but also members of the community. When taking care of the elderly becomes a societal responsibility, the responsibilities are likely to be shared and this will greatly reduce the amount of stress caused by taking care of their needs (Eden & Schulz, 2018). Family caregivers will have added assistance financial, emotional and physical to help in handling the duties and responsibilities. In such a scenario, the burden of taking care of the elderly will be shared and the likelihood of caregivers suffering from stress and depression will reduce.
Evaluation
The effectiveness in offering assistance to family caregivers can be assessed by observing the mental and physical state of both caregivers and the elderly. Financial records for caregivers will give a depiction of whether the assistance given by society and the government has had any impact on the care givers income (Gross, 2011). If successful, the caregivers should have the same or better income compared to the period before they became caregivers. The records will thus prove that offering services to the elderly in no way affects the income of the caregivers. Another tool that can evaluate the effectiveness of the assistance given to caregivers could be the statistics on the number of caregivers seeking medical and psychological assistance associated with offering assistance to the elderly (Gross, 2011). A decline in the number of caregivers suffering from emotional stress will be a good indicator as it will mean that the implementation of policies aimed at helping the caregivers is successful and that they have lesser issues to stress over.
References
Family Caregiver Alliance, (2018) “Support groups” retrieved from, https://www.caregiver.org/support-groups
Gross, J. (2011). A bittersweet season: Caring for our aging parents{u2014}and ourselves.
In Schulz, R., & In Eden, J. (2016). Families caring for an aging America.
National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, (2016) “Families caring for an aging America, The National Academies Press, retrieved from, https://www.nap.edu/catalog/23606/families-caring-for-an-aging-america
Nunes, Daniella Pires, Brito, Tábatta Renata Pereira de, Corona, Ligiana Pires, Alexandre, Tiago da Silva, & Duarte, Yeda Aparecida de Oliveira. (2018). Elderly and caregiver demand: proposal for a care need classification. Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 71(Suppl. 2), 844-850. https://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2017-0123
