Caregiving As An Identity

In the U.S, one in four will be aged 60 years and older by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau). This represents an overwhelming number of people who will either be in the caretaker role or be the ROC. Like today, most of the care will be provided by informal unpaid caregivers. The number of informal unpaid caregivers is expected to rise from 20 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2050 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], 2003). Because of the burden of care giving, many caregivers will experience depression, poor health and quality of life (Etters, Goodall, & Harrison, 2008). Their well-being is an important public health concern.

According to Kim, Chang, Rose, & Kim (2011), care-giver burden has been defined as a multidimensional response to the negative appraisal and perceived stress resulting from the taking care of an ill individual (p. 846). More easily stated a care-giver is a person who assists another individual with one or more of their daily activities of living. A person who finds it necessary to care for a loved one suffering from dementia often finds the task daunting if not polarizing. The role of caregiver often times has a negative effect on the caregiver. These can include feelings of depression, isolation, fear and anger as well as the feelings of constant responsibility and social isolation (Kim et al., 2011).

July 02, 2010, I received a letter from the Department of Social Services Caregiver Background Check Bureau notifying me that I no longer had a background clearance. The letter stated that I had to resign from Villa Serra my employer at that time. I immediately, called my supervisor, Sandra, to inform her I was resigning because I received a letter, which informed me I had to resign because I longer had a background clearance. My superior insisted I show up to work the following day and show the letter I received to the main boss, Greg. The following day I provided Greg with the letter and he contacted corporate and they confirmed that I needed a background clearance to continue working with them. At this point I was terminated from Villa

Caregiving is a responsibility best managed with plenty of help. Being a caregiver is very hard and tough work. It is very important that caregivers are taking care of just like their patients. Many caregivers give everything they have and do not rest when they really should take time to breathe and have time for themselves. That is why there are many organizations for caregivers and their patients. These organizations are made for the caregivers to teach them to be the best that they can be at their job and also making sure that their mental state is doing well.

Standardized savings is a standout amongst the best government programs in the United States. This kept away from destitution after a huge number of Americans wound up plainly old, debilitated, and family wage laborers kicked the bucket. As President Bush underscores, " Social Security is one of the greatest achievements of the American government, and one of the deepest commitments to the American people." But in spite of its achievements, the program has two There is a major issue.

In the U.S., there is an essential population of informal caregivers that devote a significant amount of time and resources to caring for older adults with impairments. However, due to the informal nature of these caregiver relationships, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of this population. In “A National Profile of Family and Unpaid Caregivers Who Assist Older Adults with Health Care Activities (2016)”, Wolff and colleagues highlight the importance of understanding the responsibilities of caregivers and how this may affect their own health, as well as the need to identify the basic characteristics of informal caregivers. Therefore, the primary objective of this study by Wolff and colleagues (2016) was to characterize the common responsibilities of caregivers, their utilization of supportive services, as well as to identify the effects of caregiver-related responsibilities on their health. Ultimately, this information may inform future public health services and health care systems to provide much needed support and resources to these caregivers.

Additional research was conducted by Reid (2011) to explore whether caregiver strain is linked to child maltreatment, if experiencing maltreatment is associated with risk-inflating behaviors or sexual denigration of self or other, and if these behavioral and psychosocial dysfunctions are related to vulnerability to commercial sexual exploitation. The sample included data from 174 predominately African American women. The results indicated that child maltreatment worsened with an increased caregiver strain. Experiencing child maltreatment was also linked to running away, initiating substance use at earlier ages, and higher levels of sexual denigration of self or others. The sexual denigration of self or others was significantly related to the

Care 2 Caregivers is a peer support line for caregivers to strengthen the caregiver’s network. Services provided include peer support, counseling, health education, disease management, and referrals to community agencies for support and assistance. WellCare partnered with Care 2 Caregivers and handled 2,200 individual cases, and had 8,026 contacts with caregivers. Nearly two-thirds of the contacts provided peer support or counseling services.

In addition, eldercare has also become a more complex institution that involves six key stakeholder groups, which are care recipients, community-based service agencies, employers, government programs, healthcare providers, informal caregivers, and nongovernmental programs (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011). Unfortunately, there are times they each appear to operate as separate entities, which leads to occasional overlaps in care, that interferes with their objectives of ensuring that older adults can age with dignity and that informal caregivers receive their appropriate assistance and attention according to Bookman and Kimbrel (2011). There is a mounting body of literature that proposes that in addition to providing an array of instrumental and emotional

There are myriad reasons that some diverse informal elder caregivers do not self-identify as caregivers, but the most common reason in the African American community is their eldercare ethos. Anderson and Turner (2010) assert that the West African legacy of strong kinship bonds combined with historical factors of discrimination, has shaped the lives of African Americans and has greatly influenced their later-life caregiving decision-making process. Studies have also shown that African Americans prefer to rely on family and fictive kin or kinship networks (nonrelatives) and avoid using former eldercare services because of distrust of their services (Apesoa-Varano et al., 2015). Anderson and Turner (2010) concur and share their research reveals

While numerous disciplines have explored, and contributed to the literature their definitions and development of various identities, such as gender and racial, however, this study will address identity through the lens of caregiving, chiefly informal elder caregiving.

In short, family caregiver burnout is a very real condition with potentially critical side effects. By taking advantage of in home care for seniors, the family caregiver can reset their physical, social, and emotional

Canada has the reputation of conveying excessive kindness and forgiveness. In a recent survey, 96% of the 1542 Canadians surveyed responded people make mistakes, and 87% responded they would appreciate forgiveness for their own mistakes, and 81% believe bearing grudges are pointless (Beck, 2017). The sample size of this survey is insignificant compared to the total general population of Canada, however this is a glimpse of how and why Canadians treat people with kindness—they simply want to be treated with kindness in return.

The caregiver cannot be a caregiver if he does not love the person he cares for" Terry Makenna husband of Pat Makenna, who passed away complication of Alzheimer disease. "If you cry about it most of the times, you need to laugh about it half of the time" Chuck who is Alzheimer patient. "I do not think you choose to do it, but it is something falls in your lap "Mike, the business man who cares for his father Nacho who is diagnosed with Dementia. "I never said goodbye â ¦ sometimes I ask why he left me alone "Jackie whose husbands Marvin passed from Alzheimer disease complication.

In the story, The Fundamentals of Caregiving, a man named Ben narrates the story of the training he underwent to become a caregiver. His first potential client was Trevor Conklin, who was a nineteen year old with either MS or ALS, and he had to be in a wheelchair forever. Trevor’s mom, Elsa, met Ben, who got the job. As he met Trevor, he was very shy until his mother said that he likes girls. After Trevor was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, his father left him. Ben discusses how Trev was in his little bubble not taking risks and only maintaining a simple routine of eating waffles and watching the weather channel for 3 hours a day. Later in the story, Forest, Ben’s best friend, invites him to the bar to hang out. Everyone in