Identifying Care-Giver Fatigue
Although caring for your elderly loved one can be fulfilling, sometimes, all the stressors associated with the additional workload can leave you feeling overwhelmed. Unless you address these feelings your relationship will begin suffering, your state of mind and health may begin deteriorating, which eventually leads to care-giving fatigue.
Caregiver Stress is Usually a Chronic, Long-Term Challenge
Anyone facing years or decades of care giving responsibilities may find themselves feeling disheartened, especially if a family member’s condition is expected to continue deteriorating. Without the help and support you need, you become susceptible to a variety of emotional and physical problems including depression and
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• Irrational demands – you may place unreasonable demands upon yourself because you feel ultimately responsible for the total care of your loved one.
• Feeling out of control – you may become frustrated due to your inability to effectively plan, organize and manage your loved one’s care.
Symptoms of Care-Giving Fatigue
Many caregivers are unaware they are suffering with caregiver fatigue. Recognizing and addressing this issue is essential for both the loved one being cared for and the caregiver. The first step in dealing with care-giving fatigue is to identify the problem.
Depression – feeling hopeless and/or helpless, sadness, trouble sleeping, irritability, difficulty concentrating
Lifestyle changes – Increased alcohol consumption, excessive smoking, changes in appetite, weight or both
Resentment – even though your life revolves around caring for your loved one, you receive very little satisfaction and may find yourself actually resenting the individual you care for
Neglecting responsibilities – you begin neglecting your needs because you just do not care anymore or you are too busy caring for your loved
“Alzheimer`s disease is called a family disease” (ALZlive), because it impacts every family member who is slowly watching a loved one decline. Alzheimer’s disease has an impact on caretakers because caregivers can lead to a variety of emotions, from guilt to anger. When dealing with a client who has Alzheimer; caretakers have a huge responsibility, which can cause stress or depression. If the caretaking is a family member it might lead to finical problems, which can lead to the hard and controversial decision of putting someone in a nursing home, that is better equipped. Guilt is the main emotion that a caretaker can express “I have never spoken to my mother`s doctor, it occurs to me that other children of
Working with dementia patients can be very stressful and exhausting which is because of the psychological and behavioural symptoms older adults with dementia present. Their behaviour can often be violent and aggressive towards staff members (Beck and Shue 1994). This was exactly the case in the ward I was working on they had a lot of challenging patients who were very violent who needed a lot of attention and often due to lack of staff some patients and their care would get neglected. Working long hours in hectic environments such as this can lead to compassion fatigue. This is a combination of emotional exhaustion, stress and diminishing personal accomplishments. Having long, continuous and intense contact with the patients in stressful situation can lead to compassion fatigue Coetzee & Klopper, 2010). A lot of the times because of tiredness and exhaustion from continuously working in a stressful environment, I often left almost a burden on them as a student nurse and at times felt hesitant to approach them
Neglect is the persistent failure to meet an individual’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in serious impairment of the individual’s health or development, such as failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing.
Make a List: Don’t leave the respite care provider without clear instructions, a schedule, and emergency contact information. List all special needs your loved one will require during your
The alternative in providing care for a dependent family member is keeping them in their own home, or the home of a family member. In recent years there has been a move in market place to an idea that is much more cost effective to provide most of the same services that traditionally found in a long-term care facility in the home. It is estimated that providing these services in the home are approximately $21,800.00 a year. It is also important that these figures only cover the cost of providing skilled health care. These figures do not cover additional expenses occurred in the home such as the cost of room and board. In many instances, the idea of keeping family members in the home where their care, may be more closely supervised is becoming increasingly appealing. Many health care providers are recognizing this and providing more and more services available in the home. In today’s market place anyone can find nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and respiratory therapy companies
of the problems, they must face. A family member attempting to care for a loved one without training will eventually turn to a Nursing Home that has experienced staff in the care of dementia patients. Although many families feel a sense of guilt having someone else care for a loved one, it is best for all concerned. Dementia patients can be a handful for an experienced caregiver as well as those with no training. These are some of the question that should be ask when a loved
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).
Many caregivers are elderly themselves, and the heavy physical and mental toll of caregiving can compromise their own health, resulting in two elderly persons needing assistance. Several years ago, Mr. and Mrs. C, another couple in their late 80’s, moved to a Senior Living Community offering different levels of care including Independent Living, Assisted Living, and a Dementia Care Unit. They were in an Independent Living apartment and on a waiting list for an Assisted Living apartment to become available. Although they have adult children close by, Theresa was the primary caregiver for her husband who has
Reach out: Being a senior care provider to someone can be exhausting no matter how much love you have for the person you’re caring for. It’s ok to ask for help and doing so can actually make you better able to continue to be caring and healthy. Seeing a therapist, asking for professional assistance with in-home caregiving, and exploring every option that’s available to you in terms of emotional and medical support is important.
Self-neglect: Self-neglect is when an individual isn’t looking after themselves which could lead to self harm and neglect.
Humanity is living longer these days creating the need for long-term care facilities. Today’s families need to work outside the home forcing their loved ones to enter the dependency of the extended care and long-term care facilities. More and more of the retirees are seeking better facilities for themselves because there are more options. There are more than meets the eyes in the nursing and long-term care that involves families and personnel in the decision making for their loved ones.
The second concept is a no-win situation where a supervisor or boss is not happy with the job a healthcare worker does no matter how good a job the employee is doing (Espeland, 2006). Care givers and health care providers always strive to do better and change if needed. If a supervisor or boss gives you direction to change a way of doing things because they feel you are doing something wrong, and then when you change they are still not satisfied a person can feel as if they can not do anything to make the situation any better no matter what they do to change.
Millions of people are in the role of a part or full time caregiver in the U.S to family members who have a serious illness or disability. This a a very challenging and demanding role that needs to be recognized and appreciated.
A lack of understanding can make carers provide the wrong sort of support, some carers might be overprotective and do too much for the individual, some people think dementia is funny and laugh at the individual. Working with people with varying different types and forms of dementias can be stressful but it`s important to remain supportive and understanding of each individual and retain their dignity through each stage and each day without having any adverse effects on their daily living tasks or decisions. You as a carer can influence their decision and choices by being in a bad mood, by showing distaste or distrust for certain people or foods and as such should be in control of your facial expressions and actions. It`s important to understand
The older adult population in the United States has steadily increased thanks to technology and medical advances. While this definitely is an undeniable achievement, it also creates some challenges that society was not as prevalent to face before. Now that people are living longer it’s also means that often times family members are becoming caregivers to their loved ones during their so called golden years. Not only may it be difficult to care for a loved one, but it also becomes even more burdensome when their loved has a disability. In fact “dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide.” (2016). Fortunately there are adult day centers that serve people with dementia and provide services that can benefit them. However many times caregivers are forgotten about and aren’t provided services that can also benefit them as well. While it does take a bit of pressure off of the caregivers while their loved ones are at the day center, it does not eliminate all the other effects. Many people may not be aware that there are detrimental effects that a caregiver may experience as a result of caring for someone with dementia.