Caregiving can be challenging. Stress from caregiving is common, especially among women since they are the main caregivers. If a person does not take care of themselves, then they are at risk for compassion fatigue (occurs from the relationship between the caregiver and patient) which jeopardizes the caregiver’s ability to care for their patients, therefore, leading to caregiver burnout (Gallagher, 2013). Caregiver burnout is a condition of mental, physical and emotional depletion which occurs when stresses of the caregivers interactions with his or her environment (Spencer Scott).
However, how a caregiver handles stress depends on their spiritual and emotional maturity. Emotional maturity demonstrates one’s relationships with people, whereas, spiritual maturity demonstrates one’s relationship with God. The Bible reminds us that it is important to have a relationship with God and relationships with people. “Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the
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On the other hand, Emotional/Spiritual Health Inventory part A, (General Formation and Discipleship) reveals that I am an emotional adolescent. Part B (Emotional Components of Discipleship) indicates that I am an emotional adolescent and an emotional adult. Therefore, the immature behavior of the emotional adolescent such as blaming others or quickly becoming defensive causes pain in relationships and does not reflect the image of Jesus Christ. As an emotional adult, I am able to have a more enjoyable intimate relationship with God and a meaningful relationship with others by respecting and loving others (Street,
In the U.S, one in four will be aged 60 years and older by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau). This represents an overwhelming number of people who will either be in the caretaker role or be the ROC. Like today, most of the care will be provided by informal unpaid caregivers. The number of informal unpaid caregivers is expected to rise from 20 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2050 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], 2003). Because of the burden of care giving, many caregivers will experience depression, poor health and quality of life (Etters, Goodall, & Harrison, 2008). Their well-being is an important public health concern.
Week’s Work: This week was a discovery of my personality, strengths and weaknesses, and spiritual gifts. Before taking administering the various assessments, I spent a great deal of time reading on the importance of the emotional health of a leader by Peter Scazzero. Additionally, I performed the emotional assessment from both of Scazzero’s books, The Emotionally Healthy Church and The Emotionally Healthy Leader. Each assessment focused on the various aspects of emotional health. I was challenged by the results of the assessments. According to Scazzero’s assessments, I function as an emotional adolescent. However, in the area of embracing grief and loss, I am an emotional child. The finding forced me to evaluate how I handle
Caregiving is a responsibility best managed with plenty of help. Being a caregiver is very hard and tough work. It is very important that caregivers are taking care of just like their patients. Many caregivers give everything they have and do not rest when they really should take time to breathe and have time for themselves. That is why there are many organizations for caregivers and their patients. These organizations are made for the caregivers to teach them to be the best that they can be at their job and also making sure that their mental state is doing well.
According to Kim, Chang, Rose, & Kim (2011), care-giver burden has been defined as a multidimensional response to the negative appraisal and perceived stress resulting from the taking care of an ill individual (p. 846). More easily stated a care-giver is a person who assists another individual with one or more of their daily activities of living. A person who finds it necessary to care for a loved one suffering from dementia often finds the task daunting if not polarizing. The role of caregiver often times has a negative effect on the caregiver. These can include feelings of depression, isolation, fear and anger as well as the feelings of constant responsibility and social isolation (Kim et al., 2011).
Sullivan, M. T. (2003). Caregiver Strain Index (CSI). Home Healthcare Nurse: The Journal for the Home Care and Hospice Professional, 21(3), 197-198. doi:10.1097/00004045-200303000-00024
The caregiver works along side the health care team and has an important role in improving the elder cancer patient's health and QOL (Haley, 2003). Caregivers and cancer patients need support from healthcare professionals who understand the social outlook of living with cancer (Haley, 2003). Social workers are an integral part of care provided for cancer patients and their caregivers. Social workers perform many tasks like psychosocial interventions which include, coping with the diseases and issues with the family relationships, social interventions, such as legal support and housing issues, economic interventions, such as, pension benefits issues and social security, outpatient follow-up care, home care, assisted living,
Compassion fatigue is a huge reality and according to Potter et al. (2013), long-term effects of compassion fatigue have negative impact on the health, well-being and performance of nurses involved. Jean Watson’s theory of caring said, true healing cannot be realized without caring therefore, compassion fatigue is a problem that does not only affect nurses, but goes a notch higher by also affecting the quality of care offered by compassion fatigue victims. Boyle (2011) observed that there is need for nurses to be compassionate and caring especially when providing care to patients, families or relatives. Slatten et al. (2011) noted that compassion fatigue is an occupational hazard among nurses involved (that is, professionals involved in helping others). Compassion fatigue is therefore, a significant problem affecting professional practice in nursing because Rosa (2014) stated that, being a successful caregiver requires a nurse to be in a position to find the meaning in what they do, remain committed and immersed in order to gain a sense of purpose. However, compassion fatigue stands as a barrier to realization of sense of purpose among
Health caregivers are the group of people mostly at risk of developing compassion fatigue. Most of the times, compassion fatigue may be as a result of the situations the care providers encountered and the pain they feel for their patients. One of the vital element of healthcare is providing a compassionate care. Compassion is defined as being aware of other people suffering, and desire to help to them reduce the suffering (Ruysschaert, 2009). Compassion fatigue is seen as a form of burnout that affect the health care provider which manifest itself as physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion (Lynch & Lobo, 2012). The four major factors that can lead to compassion fatigue are, giving others too much caring and not enough care to self, unresolved past trauma, inability to control stress at work, and lack of satisfaction in the work (Ruysschaert, 2009). Compassion fatigue occurs when the caregivers are milked of their sense of wellbeing, comfort, their purpose in life, strength and all the good qualities they have. It is important for those that caring for others to also pay attention to their own needs. Taking care of your own needs means that you will be healthy and therefore be more able to care for others. The caregiver needs to be able to recognize and discuss compassion in order to avoid it.
With the advancements in healthcare and people living longer lives America is facing a caregiver crisis, due to the growth of the aging population. Statistics show that the number of people 65 years and older is expected to rise 101% between 2000 and 2030, yet the number of family members who can provide care for these older adults is only expected to rise 25% (Gupta, 2015). This significant change in the population raises many questions, who will care for this group, how will their safety be ensured, how will the elderly travel, where will they live, will building structures need to change to allow easier access, will the government create a caregiver corps to check on the elderly who are isolated, and ultimately how does the government
Similar to physical exhaustion, emotional exhaustion results from depletion of emotional resources and failure to restore one’s own emotional equilibrium. (Moore, 2009, p. 1) In today’s busy society the demands of life, job and family can be excessive and overwhelming. Combine these demands with the additional stressors of caring for another person or persons, increased demands of productivity with decreased personnel and the unrealistic expectations of one’s self or others and place all of this burden on one person, this would adequately describe the 21st century nurse. Nurses are continually engaged in emotional relationships with patients and their families which call upon the nurse to be in a constant supporting role. One reaches emotional exhaustion when this burden becomes too heavy to carry
From a psychological standpoint, mild to negative emotions may be triggered. Socially, stress may break down relationships and cause withdrawal while spiritually persons need to become closer to God and each other for emotional maturity to develop. Counseling, Conflicts and Interpersonal Relations When helping persons to deal with conflict and build better relationships, one must start with the basics then undertake a self evaluation.
Many of the comments are from those in the nursing profession, it was interesting to read them as I can see this is a demanding profession and one that, as we said in class Monday, it is a vocation and people generally go into it because they are compassionate, caring people who want to help others. I am not in the nursing profession but my mother is a carer so I would often hear about the stress of the job, as my mother works with elderly patients she often deals with grief and burnout from the stresses of caring for the sick and elderly. After listening to Dr Kristin Neff what struck me was her explanation of self-compassion and self-esteem, as someone who suffers from low self-esteem I
Compassion fatigue is widely known in the health care profession. Nurses working overtime and long working days to provide care for the patient and the patient’s families are a continuous stress on a nurse’s emotional and physical well-being especially if the nurse is providing the patient with end of life care as this contributes to both physical and mental work. Vital
My interpretation of caregiving and the extensive role a caregiver plays transformed while reading Emily Abel’s novel, Hearts of Wisdom. When interviewing my grandmother, Marjorie Waguespack, her personal experiences reinforced many of the vital factors Abel believes are involved in caregiving. Caregiving includes major rewarding aspects from varying standpoints. Emily Abel wholeheartedly believes, “the three major components of care—instrumental, spiritual, and emotional—sometimes conferred significant rewards” (60). Caring for an individual can be difficult and may require substantial sacrifice, but oftentimes the benefits outweigh the costs. With these components, an extensive network of
In addition to disasters, chronic stress can also arise from changes in employment, social relationships, or financial condition. One well-accepted model of chronic stress is the burden of providing long-term care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. Learning, memory, and cognitive function progressively decline in these patients, sometimes even to the point that the patient may no longer recognize his or her spouse. Many Alzheimer’s patients require constant care for years before they die. From the time of diagnosis, about half of the patients live for another seven to eight years, which creates a tremendous amount of strain on the caregiver who watches a loved one continue to deteriorate. Caregiving also makes it difficult to establish or continue supportive social relationships outside of the home and may create changes in employment or financial status.