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Elder Care News
Caregivers for Elderly Cope with Humor and
Thinking that Others Have it Worse
Caregivers need emotional support as well as
practical help
 November 6, 2006 - Seeing the funny side of
things and realizing that other people are worse off than themselves
are the two top coping strategies used by people caring for someone
over age 75, according to research in the November issue of Journal
of Clinical Nursing. This is National Family Caregivers Month in the
U.S.
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Over 50 million provide $306 billion a year in free
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 November 3, 2006 - Over 50 million Americans are
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Elder Care News |
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Dealing with the emotional consequences and
family tensions created by caring can prove a much greater problem
than the tasks that caregivers perform for the people they look
after, according to Nurse researcher Alison Jarvis from the
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, who explored the caring
experiences of 172 caregivers.
Yet, most health and social care professionals
focus purely on practical issues, when they should be dealing with
caregivers in a more holistic way and taking account of their
emotional needs, she says.
“Our study shows that caregivers get
satisfaction from the quality of care they provide and use humor and
practical solutions to resolve problems” says Ms Jarvis.
“But many feel angry about their situation and
find it hard to cope with the actual and potential family tensions
created by their caring role.”
● 79 per cent found humor helpful and 74 per
cent felt they were better off than others.
● Three-quarters of caregivers also found it
helpful to keep some free time for themselves, maintain interests
outside caring and keep the person they cared for as active as
possible.
● Two-thirds (67 per cent) said that they
tried to get as much help as they could from professionals and
service providers, but only two per cent advocated attending a
self-help group.
● 16 per cent found relaxation and meditation
techniques helpful.
Questionnaires were sent to caregivers identified
as part of a larger survey carried out in a Scottish practice – which
comprises five family doctors and 5,000 registered adults aged 16 or
over.
Sixty-nine per cent of patients took part in the
initial screening survey and 70 per cent of patients who said they cared
for someone aged 75 or over took part in the latest study.
Other key findings include:
● About a third of respondents said that caring
put a strain on family relationships (34 per cent), that the person they
cared for could be difficult (33 per cent) and that caring restricted
their social life (32 per cent).
● More than one in five (22 per cent) felt angry
about their situation and 30 per cent said that their emotional
well-being had suffered as a result of caring.
● However eight out of ten people did get
satisfaction from seeing the person they cared for happy or from doing
something that gave their loved one pleasure. They also felt that it was
important to maintain the dignity of the person they cared for and felt
it was one way of expressing their love for them.
● Just under a third (32 per cent) said caring
had helped them to grow as a person, 13 per cent said it gave their life
purpose and 16 per cent said it had given them the chance to widen their
interests and contacts.
“This study shows that it is the invisible
consequences of care giving, such as family tensions and lack of time,
that seem to be most stressful, even at an early stage” says Jarvis.
“These chronic stress factors may accumulate and
the last stressor, which may appear to be relatively minor, could
trigger a crisis.
“Professionals have a tendency to see solutions to
problems in purely practical terms and avoid complex or painful
emotional issues, despite talking about “needs led” rather than “service
led” assessments.
“They need to develop a better understanding of the
often invisible difficulties that caregivers face and how they really
feel about their role. This will help them to understand why some people
appear to manage the stresses of caring while others struggle with less
demanding loads.”
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