Try: The care of an impaired older person can create stress that affects the ability of the caregiver to continue giving necessary levels of care the stress experienced may be physical financial environmental and or emotional in nature physical stress providing physical care to an impaired older person can cause physical stress general homemaking and housekeeping activities such as cleaning laundry shopping and meal preparation require energy and can be tiring particularly when added to existing responsibilities in one one’s own home personal care required for the supervision of medications and the maintenance of hygiene can also be stressful particularly in situations of acting-out behaviors incontinence loss of bladder or bowel control colostomies or assistance with bathing lifting and transferring individuals with limited mobility is not only tiring but also can result in injury to the caregiver or the impaired person in some instances there is the additional responsibility of maintenance of equipment such as wheelchairs or hospital beds financial stress the care of an impaired elderly person has many financial dimensions for those services that cannot be provided by family members medical pharmaceutical therapeutic etc decisions will have to be made as to where service will be secured and how they will be paid when money is limited many families assist with the cost of care causing financial burdens on all family members environmental stress the proper home setting has to be chosen if the carereceiver elects to remain in his her own home modifications such as railings and ramps may have to be installed if the person cannot remain in his her own home alternative arrangements must be sought such as moving in with a friend or relative or specialized housing retirement hotels senior apartments residential care homes intermediate care facilities or nursing homes if the carereceiver is to remain in the home some major adjustments in the living arrangements and patterns of daily living will be necessary social stress providing personal care up to 24 hours a day can cause social stress by isolating oneself from friends family and a social life the caregiver may find him herself becoming too tired or unable to have an evening out even once a week or once a month what can result is a build-up of anger and resentment toward the very person receiving the care as the carereceiver is the cause of the lost socialization emotional stress all of these factors often result in tremendous emotional stress compounding these sources of stress are the difficulties in managing one one’s time juggling multiple responsibilities and feeling the pressure of the increased dependency for family members providing care the various forms of stress can result indifferent feelings anger resentment and bitterness about the constant responsibilities deprivation and isolation can result this is also a time when many of the unresolved conflicts from parent-child relationships resurface and can intensify causing anxiety and frustration there might even be the unspoken desire at times to be relieved of the burden through institutionalization or even death of the care receiver this desire is frequently and swiftly followed by feelings of guilt all of these can be felt then denied because they seem unacceptable the person giving care needs to be assured that in fact these feelings are common even though they may not be expressed there are resources that can help caregivers the remainder of this book will address those resources such as joining a caregiver support group using community resources and above all caring for yourself the caregiver types of help available family or friends first make a detailed inventory of any assets individual family members and friends can contribute including the assets of the impaired elderly person needing the care assets include available time skills space equipment the strengths of the person in need care and most important money sit down with all the family members or at least as many as are agreeable and work out a plan for giving help this involves defining and agreeing upon what tasks will be performed by whom on which days and so forth for example aunt martha can cook uncle peter can mow the lawn and mary can check on mom twice a day care giving exchanges some situations may allow for exchanging support services such as the caregiver exchange through the area agency on aging a friend who has similar caregiver responsibilities may care for both impaired individuals one day a week in exchange for your providing the care on another day another exchange situation might include making a spare room available to a college student for his her help with care of the carereceiver in return for free room and board information references "caregiver’s handbook" by the caregiver education and support services seniors counseling and training case management services of the san diego county mental health services no date available at www acsu buffalo edu
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Categories: Sage, Topic, Caregiver Needs&Support, Emotional Psychological, Maintenance, Medical Physical, Mobility, Needs Some Assistance, Needs Much Assistance, Immobile, Independence, Some Supervision, Maximum Supervision, Cognitive Awareness, Somewhat Aware, Unaware, Long-Term Memory, So-So L T Memory, Poor L T Memory, Short-Term Memory, So-So S T Memory, Poor S T Memory
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Keywords: Care giving stress help with care giving respite care family support help from friends care giving exchange area agency on aging support services
*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed