Gerontology Notes week 2 17 2 19 Family Caregiving Profile of Caregiving spouses are often the primary caregivers Especially women offspring for their old aged parents over 75 This tends to be a single unmarried adult daughter Parents prefer same sex caregivers For every person in a nursing home 2 or more elderly are cared for by family Caregiving typically lasts 5 7 years or more and can very from 6 10 hours up to 35 hours per week Informal Caregiving Providing help and assistance to relatives or friends who are unable to provide for themselves 2 3 of caregivers are unmarried 50 of caregivers are also employed full time Spouses Transition to Caregiving This tends to be most stressful when the spouse being cared for has Alzheimers Areas of Change Marital intimacy this changes it does not disappear Psychological wellbeing Participation in household tasks specifically for husbands Social Integration Transition to caring for a Parent This reverberates across family relationships Adult children tend to experience stress when Parent is demanding critical unappreciative Lack of support from other family members Gender differences is Caregiving Daughters provide more hours of care than sons Daughters and sons perform different caregiving tasks Daughters hands on care There are no differences in either sons or daughters feelings of obligation Sons household chores transportation financials Women tend to provide more care because Caregiving is a part of gender division of labor women are more nurturing caring Related to earning potential Work and Caregiving 1 3 of caregivers are employed full time or part time Often caregivers tend to continue to work full time while providing necessary care There is a greater rate of stress for unemployed caregivers Work offers respite from caregiving free time away from caregiving obligations Alzheimer s Disease type of dementia Most common cause of dementia Gradual steady deterioration Early impairment in memory and new learning Late loss of ability to perform tasks that used to be a part of daily life Exhaustion loss of time for oneself feeling overwhelmed role overload financial worry Being appreciated and gaining a new perspective on the relationship Family stress and Adaptation Caregiving is Stressful Chronic stress Negative effects on health and well being Costs of Caregiving changes in relationships Benefits of Caregiving Caregiving Stressors 1 Primary problems related to the disease disability ex behavior problems loss of relationships 2 Secondary impact of primary stressors on caregivers life ex missed work marital strain Behavioral Psychological Symptoms in Dementia Most challenging stressors for caregivers Most common behaviors are Mood disturbances depression Agitation restlessness Disruptive behaviors sleep disturbances ADL Advice for Caregivers Gain information about the illness and treatment Reduces misunderstanding misinterpretation of behaviors Avoid reorienting patient to reality Problem Solving Used to manage problem behaviors Become informed about problems Brainstorm solutions to problem behaviors ABC Antecedents Behaviors Consequences Antecedents are things that trigger a certain action Noise light frustration anxiety pain stress hunger thirst Behaviors are the inappropriate actions that the person gets due to the antecedents Agitation restlessness Consequences These are the reinforces for the behavior being changed Ex If a man with Alzheimer s rearranges the furniture in the living room at 6 o clock every night when his spouse is making dinner but one night they go through the drive through and get a burger earlier in the day and he does not have this behavior at 6 that night she can tell from this that his agitation was hunger and she can change this problem by cooking dinner earlier
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