Informal and Family Caregiving

Informal and Family Caregiving

What will be the challenges in receiving the direct care you need for your Instrumental Activities of Daily Living as well as the struggle with dementia that has recently been diagnosed?

Dementia can cause a person to exhibit behaviors that are unpredictable and unusual. Such behaviors include wandering, repetition of words, combativeness, physical or verbal aggression, and severe mood swings. These changes can result in a lot of frustration for the patient as well as for their caregiver (Hooyman et al., 2015). Because dementia is characterized by memory loss, I will question why there’s a person in my house doing things that I should be doing. I may become aggressive toward the person. Also, I may become frustrated and depressed when my memory comes back and realize the things I did when I had an episode.

Who will provide this and for how long?  At what cost

I would like for my kin to hire a professional nurse to care for me. I wouldn’t want my family members to care for me because I may cause some unpleasant or embarrassing scenarios, such as revealing family secrets. If the dementia is not severe, I would prefer if the caregiver would come to my house once a day for 2-3 hours just to set everything in place. For example, the caregiver can ensure that things I use daily, such as my toothbrush, are in the exact place they should be so that I don’t have to look for them. The caregiver will also ensure that the house is safe for me to live in by ensuring some things, such as the cooker, are turned off when not in use and the back gate is locked, among others. Do you need urgent assignment help ? Our homework help will save you tons of energy and time required for your homework paper.

I do not wish to burden my kin, so based on the knowledge I have gathered in this course, I intend to start putting aside some money every month in an interest-earning investment. I am hoping that the money will be sufficient to pay for the caregiving services. For example, putting aside $100 per month at an interest-earning rate of 2% minimum for 20-30 years (I am hoping dementia will take longer to set in, if at all) will give me a tidy amount to live on in my sunset years and to pay the caregiver. I got this idea from my maternal aunt, who has saved $50 monthly for the last 23 years. She does not have dementia yet, but she has set her finances right so as not to overburden the family.

How will they provide the care, what are some inherent challenges they will face?

As mentioned, I would like a caregiver to come in 2-3 hours daily to check up on me. Some of the challenges the caregiver may face are the change in my mood, combativeness, and non-cooperation. I generally like to do things for myself, and there is a specific way that I like things done. I am imagining that with my nature, dementia will exacerbate this character and this will make the caregiver’s work more challenging as I may likely disagree with what and how she does the things that she will be doing in assisting me with my ADLs.

Will this promote a healthy outcome for all?

I believe reporting for a short number of hours per day will promote a healthy outcome for me and the caregiver. I will not feel like they will be taking my independence away as I will still have time and room to do whatever I want to do and how I want it done. When the caregiver comes in daily, they will ensure that I am safe. Also, spending a few hours with them will give them time to interact with other people instead of staying in the house with me and dealing with my nasty attitude. Caregivers also get fatigued and depressed (Matiolli, Walters &Cannon, 2018; Lou et al., 2015) from caring for frustrating patients. I would not want that of my caregiver; hence, the limited number of hours of care.

References

Hooyman, N. R., Kawamoto, K. Y., & Kiyak, H. A. (2015). Aging Matters.

Lou, Q., Liu, S., Huo, Y. R., Liu, M., Liu, S., & Ji, Y. (2015). Comprehensive analysis of patient and caregiver predictors for caregiver burden, anxiety and depression in Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 24(17-18), 2668-2678.

Mattioli, D., Walters, L., & Cannon, E. J. (2018). Focusing on the caregiver: Compassion fatigue awareness and understanding. Medsurg nursing, 27(5), 323-329.

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Informal and Family Caregiving

Required Texts/Readings 

Aging Matters, Hooyman, Kawamoto & Kiyak (2017)

Caregiving in America primarily consists of informal and family caregiving.  The direct and indirect costs of this

Informal and Family Caregiving

“shadow workforce” have an impact on the caregivers as well as the care recipients.  The economic value contributed by informal/family caregivers is estimated to be $480 billion – far more than the total expenditures for formal services and more than the annual revenue of some of America’s largest companies.  This contributes to caregiver burden and does not address the caregiver’s access to services, which can result in serious consequences to the caregiver as well as the care recipient.

Module 7 Objectives:  At the end of this module, the student will be able to:

1. Identify the kinds of family/informal caregiving that exists in communities

1b. Discuss the benefits and costs of caregiving

2. Review services and supports for caregivers as well as future service and program directions

3. Discuss caregiver burden, its consequences, and the approaches to relieve it

4. Define direct care workers and their most common characteristics

Module 7 Resources / Materials :

• 1. Textbook reading: Chapter 7 Informal and Family Caregiving
• 2. Videos: 
• Elder Abuse

Write 2 double-spaced pages reflecting on the following case/scenario:

As you continue your aging journey and your health becomes more of a challenge for your social support system – what will be the challenges in receiving the direct care you need for your Instrumental Activities of Daily Living as well as the struggle with Dementia that has recently been diagnosed?  Who will provide this and for how long?  At what cost?  Be realistic in your assessment of who can provide this care (if anyone), how will they provide the care, what are some inherent challenges they will face, and will this promote a healthy outcome for all.  Tie all concepts from Chapters 5 through 7 together in your narrative being helped by your life experience, and your research (use 2 outside resources, remember one of them is a personal communication with an older adult).