Diagnosis Of An Informal Caregiver

Although the focus is on evaluating the caregivers’ quality of life, it is important to acknowledge how the patient themselves are in terms of well-ness when analyzing the caregiver, as varying levels of dementia can determine the amount of care needed. Shua-Haim, Hain, Shi, Kuo & Smith (2001) found that caregivers who cared for patients with depression were 3.1 times more likely to develop depression themselves, than those who took care of non-depressed patients. Baumgartern et al. (1994) older study indicated relatively similar results. After taking the CED scale, caregivers of dementia patients were 2.1 points more depressed than compared to the non-dementia caregiver group. These studies indicate, if the patient resembles depressive like symptoms, caregivers will likely do the same. It is also important to consider the patient’s symptoms and behavior as a factor on burden and the emotional toll it takes on the caregiver. Beach et al. (2005) found patients who needed more care in their activities of daily living, were more likely to report potentially harmful caregiver behaviors. This suggest possibly a higher negative impact on informal caregivers, caring for loved ones with more severe dementia.

In the U.S., there is an essential population of informal caregivers that devote a significant amount of time and resources to caring for older adults with impairments. However, due to the informal nature of these caregiver relationships, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of this population. In “A National Profile of Family and Unpaid Caregivers Who Assist Older Adults with Health Care Activities (2016)”, Wolff and colleagues highlight the importance of understanding the responsibilities of caregivers and how this may affect their own health, as well as the need to identify the basic characteristics of informal caregivers. Therefore, the primary objective of this study by Wolff and colleagues (2016) was to characterize the common responsibilities of caregivers, their utilization of supportive services, as well as to identify the effects of caregiver-related responsibilities on their health. Ultimately, this information may inform future public health services and health care systems to provide much needed support and resources to these caregivers.

Both age and genetics have been identified as risk factors, but many questions still remain. If a loved one were to face this horrible, deadly disease it can be quite the daunting task to be the primary care giver for someone going through Alzheimer’s. The Alzheimer’s Association of America reported in 2014, friends and family of people with Alzheimer's and other dementias provided an estimated 17.9 billion hours of unpaid care, a contribution to the nation valued at $217.7 billion. This is approximately 46 percent of the net value of Walmart sales in 2013 and nearly eight times the total revenue of McDonald's in 2013. Over half of primary caregivers of people with dementia take care of parents. But you are not alone in your efforts, there are a multitude of specialist and organizations that can help you with many different needs, hotlines in place to get information day or night about ways to make those affected by this disease more comfortable in their daily struggles.

The most severe of all the types of dementia is the Alzheimer’s disease between 60% to 80% of people with dementia has the Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, a lot of people think dementia and Alzheimer’s are the same, but Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia. The care of patients with Alzheimer’s disease is mostly by their family members or spouse. A lot of people with Alzheimer’s disease are also taken to the nursing home or assisted living because their needs become much for their family members to handle. According to an article on caregivers taking care of Alzheimer’s patients, they said taking care of patients with Alzheimer’s disease are more demanding than taking care of a patient without it(Pilgrim,2018). I have had a personal experience with taking care of Alzheimer’s patients. I used to work in an assisted living, the dementia department to be précised. It was really demanding because I constantly must be on my feet. For example, giving them a shower, changing them, feeding them and sometimes they can ask you the same question for over hundred times. Sometimes they refuse care because they are not good with remembering faces or names. It was a

Caregivers of a person with Alzheimer’s will be a loved one, spouse, adult child or close companion. Even early stages of Alzheimer’s a person will require 24-hour a day care and will need to be flexible and understanding in dealing with changes in their loved ones behavior and personality. Caregivers would need to be aware of the everyday life of someone with Alzheimer’s. Some areas that they would need to know so that they could better assist their loved ones would be with communication, bathing, dressing, mealtime, and sleeping. As a person progresses more with Alzheimer’s they will more than likely have trouble understanding what is happening and what is expected of them. This can be frustrating to the person and to the caregiver. Another thing that a caregiver would need to be aware of is home and personal safety for the person with Alzheimer’s. This would include keeping floors clear of clutter, securing locks on doors and windows and childproof medication

A nonsystematic study reviewed previous research and noted the importance of assisting caregivers as there are nearly four million adult caregivers nationwide.7 Researchers from the School of Nursing in Michigan gave insight about the issues faced by caregivers, and how to better meet their caregiving needs. Legislation review and five meta-analyses were conducted in order to see the many implications caregivers face as well offer ways to help them. National data showed these caregivers estimate an average of 8.3 hours a day providing care near 13.7 months. 5 Along with innumerable physical changes, sleep disturbances, and changes financial well-being, psychological impairment and moods disturbance were a great topic of research. In several

Elders go through a lot during their aging process from the beginning of sore muscles to increasing health issues, and sometimes have an incident to where they are put into a facility temporarily. When an older adult is almost ready to leave a rehabilitation center, from their traumatic experience, they might require a great deal of assistance from a caretaker, depending on how much they have been hurt by a stroke or another serious issue, nevertheless the care-taker must be willing to take care of the elder at all cost, most commonly a family member such as an aunt or a child, who is willing to devote their time and effort to the elder. However, when the older American does go home after being away for a while, the caregiver's true intentions are never really known until after a few months. One may think that the family member is going to be supportive and help the elderly as much as possible

Becoming the caregiver for an elderly relative or friend can be a daunting task. Not only will it require patience, attentiveness and skill, but it can be tiring, frustrating and confusing as well.

Equally as important, the care recipients who are often left out of the conversation are the informal elder caregivers themselves, especially when their self-care is imperative to be successful in their caregiver roles. Reinhard, Given, Petlick and Bemis (2008) propose research supporting assisting informal elder caregivers in becoming competent in their role as caregiver, to become aware of self-care and for the safety of their care recipients.

Nearly 15 million American seniors require at least some caregiver support and that number is set to double over the next couple of decades. Presently, over 70 percent of seniors over 65 years of age have at least a partial disability. The majority of senior caregivers are family members, however, in the last few decades, the number of seniors receiving professional caregiving services have more than tripled.

In the field, caregivers are known by many names: Personal Care Assistant, Home Helper, Certified Nursing Assistant, Home Health Aide, etc. Whichever title a caregiver chooses to go by, all of their duties boil down to achieving the same goal; providing a client with holistic care and comfort.

Initially, we discovered that the topic we searched for was too broad so as a group we reflected and administered how to refine our searches. We evaluated the differences between formal and informal caregivers. Next we decided on the term informal caregiver of

The authors state there is one person as the primary caregiver, who is identified by the care recipient; this caregiver is responsible for the majority of the caregiver tasks and decision making. The next caregiver role is the secondary caregiver(s) who is identified by the primary caregiver; this caregiver implements tasks at the same level as the primary caregiver, but without the same degree of responsibility (Dilworth-Anderson et al., 1999) The third caregiver role that may be included in the family eldercare structure is as a tertiary caregiver, who is also identified by the primary caregiver as well; this caregiver provides care together with the primary caregiver, but has little to none decision making responsibilities regarding the

Research suggests family members and friends make up the majority of individuals informal network, and provide the majority of care to older individuals (Choi et al., 2008; Schulz & Sherwood, 2008). Further research confirms women provide a large portion of informal care, espescially wives and daughters of the care receivers (Ross, 2000; Schulz & Sherwood, 2008; Pinquart & Sorensen, 2006; Aronson, 1992; Rutman, 1996; Navaie-Waliser et al., 2002). Schulz & Sherwood (2008) define informal caregiving as unpaid care provided by an individual, usually a family or friend, rather than a professional who is reimbursed for

Marquand and York (2016) consider informal elder caregivers the “unsung heroes of the nation’s eldercare system” (p 14), who play an essential role as contributors of long-term services and supports (LTSS) (Reinhard, Feinberg, Choula, & Houser, 2015). The National Alliance for Caregiving (2015) found that one-quarter of informal elder caregivers provide more than forty hours of care per week for their loved ones, and the high-hour informal elder caregivers, those whose care recipients need higher levels of care because of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, are liable to have served in this role for ten years or more. Informal elder caregivers act as advocates on behalf of their care recipients, and they are their liaisons when interacting with eldercare services providers and health care systems, but in countless ways, they are “unrecognized members of care teams, interfacing with doctors, nurses, nursing home administrators, social workers, and others” (Marquand & York, 2016, p. 14).