Caring for dementia involves a lot of patience and understanding. It should be dealt with audacity and flawlessness to ensure the vulnerable adults’ well-being. Aiding at home or care home required carers to be at their best, physically and emotionally. The responsibility can be distressing but it is rewarding as well since helping dementia adults in their day to day activities is a significant matter for them. However, carers need a pause as over duty can result to substandard nursing. The big question is: who take care for the carers of people with dementia? There is a 5 million estimate of the carers in the UK and figures are foreseen to upscale for the next 40 years to 9 million (O’ Dowd, 2007). With this high number of carers, for whom the carers can ask for support during times when difficulty arises in relation with taking care of people with dementia. There are many issues that can be related to carers of people with dementia. The physical and psychological workload can be attributed as the most common concern among carers (Fjelltun et al., 2009). In addition, O’ Dowd (2007) has stated that carers are more likely to endure more anxiety, and feeling of liability which resulted to carers’ negligence of their own wellbeing. Moreover, carers suffer more stress than those who are not giving care to elderly with dementia. In relation to this, carers’ health is not interrelated with their emotional functioning (Bristow et al., 2008). These different reports suggested that carers undergo psychological issues more notable in comparison with just ordinary people. This can be regarded to carers’ exposure to a stressful environment. Dementia is a complex and progressive condition which is frequently affected by certain conditi... ... middle of paper ... ...of Health. (2010) Dementia. The more we understand the more we can help. Crown: COI Fjelltun, A., Henriksen, N., Norberg, A., Gilje, F., Normann, H. (2009) Nurses’ and carers’ appraisals of workload in care of frail elderly awaiting nursing home placement. Scand J Caring Sci [online] volume 23, p57–66 Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=9&hid=2&sid=3f0cc818-facd-44f5-99fc-3c06a0edbd5c%40sessionmgr104 [Accessed 23 March, 2010] Hoskins,S., Coleman,M., McNeely,D. (2005) Stress in carers of individuals with dementia and Community Mental Health Teams: an uncontrolled evaluation study. Blackwell Publishing Ltd: Nursing and health care management and policy Personal Social Services Research Unit. (2007) Dementia UK. London: London School of Economics, King’s College London. O’Dowd, A. (2007) Who else is caring? Nursing older people. Volume 18, p12-14
Dementia patients must have the right to participate in all decisions concerning their care. Every person in this world has the same equal rights, no matter the situation. Doctors, caregivers, nurses, and even family members brush off the request of the person suffering from dementia each and every day. Most people call this carelessness while others call it freedom and in all reality, it is far from freedom. Luckily, there are many people who fight for the freedom everyone deserves. The majority of "Health professionals are usually keen to keep people with dementia at the center of decisions. Independent advocacy can support this by giving the extra time and skills needed to help people have a voice without the tensions of any other role"
Smith , M., Gerdner, L., Hall, G. & Buckwalter, K., 2004. History, Development, and Future of the Progressively Lowered Stress Threshold: A Conceptual Model for Dementia Care, pp. 1755-1760, viewed 2 Febuary 2014, < http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.utas.edu.au/doi/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2004.52473.x/pdf>
Caring for someone with significant health issues is an exhausting and stressful experience and it is hardly surprising that carers are prone to developing ‘burnout’. Observed in nursing, this phenomenon, described as ‘…a haemorrhaging of oneself for others’ is detrimental as stress over-load causes the cognitive and emotional responses to severely malfunction (O’Mahoney, 1983 cited in Farrington, 1997). Carers in this state of mind inevitably develop negative internalised and externalised feelings, including self-depletion, low self-esteem, limited energy, negativity and hopelessness (Taylor and Barling, 2004). A report conducted by Age UK highlights that 6 out of 10 carers suffer damaging conditions related to their mental health, including depression and lack of confidence. Furthermore, these feelings are often intensified by carers’ perseverance which aggravates existing disabilities, such as arthritis, crumbling spine, heart problems and cancer, and leads to further pain (Carers Trust,
Dementia is a disease which causes mental debility and affects one’s way of intelligent, attentiveness, recollection and problem-solving (NHS, 2013). As a result of dysfunction of brain cells in some parts of the brain it affects the thinking process then dementia occurs and it usually comes with age (Ibid). It is estimated that 560 000 people suffer from dementia in England and as a result the NHS and Social Care spend about 3.3billion (National Audit Offices)
(Davidson, F. G.) Due to the nature of dementia being a neuropsychological disorder, those affected by the disease tend to look like they will not require much care, which, in reality, they often require more care than the caregiver originally expected, leading to stress and burnout. Another effect caused by this can be the caregiver blaming themselves by feeling like they are failing to give proper care, which, in reality, can often be very far from the truth. If the caregiver does not receive help from anyone else, the task of watching over the victim becomes a daunting twenty for hour task. Sometimes, the caregiver won’t be allowed quality sleep. Over 66 percent of home caregivers suffer from some form of psychological or physical illness. The most common illness that is resulted from giving care to Alzheimer’s disease is depression. The caregiver needs to monitor their emotional well-being as well as the well-being as the person that they are giving care to. Usually, giving care to those with dementia is actually more stressful than giving care to those with cancer. When the caregiver is a family member and not a professional, the emotional toll is often even greater. It is important for caregivers to remember that they need to take care of themselves first and
Jenny Lee, Elsie Hui,Carolyn Kng and Tung Wai Auyeung (2012). Attitude of long care staff towards dementia. International Psychogeriatrics, 25(1), 140-147.
DEM201 Dementia awareness Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria Outcome 1 Understand what dementia is The learner can:
Dementia is a pertinent public health issue in Australia. Whilst there are various types of Dementia, they all significantly impact an individual’s quality of life. The consequences of Dementia extend to carers and family and this, together with increasing prevalence, inconclusive and probable preventive measures and absence of a cure, indicates the need for further research, to enable Australia to combat the significant public health issue that is Dementia.
Informal supports, such as aid for housekeeping and running errands, are crucial to maintaining the lifestyle of individuals with Alzheimer’s in the community; however, the disease’s erosion of physical, cognitive, and communicative abilities often creates tremendous strain for family caregivers. Individuals and family caregivers dealing with Alzheimer’s often experience increasing social isolation as the disease’s progression undermines both mobility and the capacity for meaningful and appropriate engagement with the community (Banerjee et al., 2003). A number of studies have documented the physical and mental health costs borne by unsupported caregivers, and the link between caregiver stress and the institutionalization of their ill family members (Andren & Elmstahl, 2005; Banerjee et al., 2003). Taken together, the stress and isolation of dealing with Alzheimer’s disease undermine the health and quality of life of everyone involved, eventually precipitating institutionalization.
However, this type of care brings a lot of unconditioned difficulties due to the constant care they have to provide the elderly people with dementia. In a recent study it was discovered that caregivers experience stress differently given the circumstance this was shown by analysis of 234 people with dementia (Robertson, Zarit, Duncan, Rovine, & Femia, 2007). The findings were that caregivers in intense and distressed groups experienced higher behaviora...
Nerney, C. (2014, April). Dementia. Lecture conducted from Massachusetts’s College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA.
Leggett, A., Zarit, S., Taylor, A., & Galvin, J. (2010). Stress and burden among caregivers of patients with lewy body dementia. The Gerontologist, 51(1), 76-85.
Person Directed Dementia Care Assessment Tool (2006). The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services. Retrieved [18th April 2011] from http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/aging/Genage/Pubs/pde0084.pdf
Dementia is a major neurocognitive disorder that interferes with the independence of the elderly by inhibiting memory and thinking skills. Fifty to eighty percent of dementia cases constitute of Alzheimer’s diagnoses; consequently Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and currently affects 5.2 million Americans. Most of these cases are patients above the age of 65 and by 2050; 13.8 million Americans in total will suffer Alzheimer’s due to aging of the general population, specifically the baby boomers. Total cost to society ranges from $157- $215 billion (Associated Press). Some would assume the cost of Alzheimer’s to be incurred by pharmaceuticals or medical costs, however RAND Corp suggests dementia cost to society is from care rather than treatment. Therefore, assistance provided by informal providers and directs caregivers incur a majority of the financial and social cost. Currently, the workforce does not have the capacity or training to care for these unique patients; the delivery system needs to address Alzheimer’s as the population ages and more and more fam...
The Theory of Caregiver Stress was a significant breakthrough for the reasoning of why caregivers are so deeply affected by this job. “The Theory of Caregiver Stress was derived from the Roy Adaptation Model to use as basis in understanding the relationships among caregivers and the stress faced when caring for a chronically ill relative” (Tsai, 2003). The Theory of Caregiver stress is a middle-range theory used to predict the outcome for stress and other various side effects (Dobratz, 2011). These adverse effects are predicted by: Demographic Characteristics, Burden in Caregiving, Stressful life events, Social Support and Social Roles. Also, because of the multitude of different scenarios and background for both the patient and the caregiver, these categories are necessary to compare and effectively use the results. The theory makes four main assumptions regarding adaption: “environmental change; the caregivers’ perceptions will determine how they will respond to the environmental stimuli; the caregivers’ adaptation is a function of their environmental stimuli and adaptation level, and lastly the caregivers’ effectors are results of chronic caregiving such examples include marital satisfaction and self-...