scholarly journals Family caregiving in an aging society: Key policy questions

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
H Vinarski ◽  
D Halperin
Keyword(s):  
Family Caregiving ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Informal Caregivers ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Family Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Aging Society ◽  
Key Policy

Abstract An aging population, attended by an increase in chronic diseases and disability, together with decrements in health among the elderly, require considerable health care resources being expended on long-term care needs in the home environment at the community level. Increase in life expectancy, and more substantially, the disproportionate increment within the very oldest age groups and in the number of elderly whose activities are limited by some sort of physical or cognitive disability have significantly increased family care needs. Such demographic shift and socioeconomic changes throughout the developed world are making elderly care an increasingly important public policy issue. Particularly, one of the principal foci of policy makers should be supporting and nurturing family care. This paper focuses on the case of Israel. Like many industrialized countries, Israel faces the challenge of caring for a growing number of vulnerable older people while advancing adequate policies to support both elderly and their informal caregivers. Currently, the demands for family caregivers has increased drastically, and, studies predict that the personal, social, and economic costs of caregiving, which have risen dramatically over the last three decades, will only continue to increase. This paper focuses on the extent to which current legislation supports primary informal caregivers in Israel. A review of the legislation and benefits has indicated that the aid supplied is limited mainly because their application is relevant only in extreme cases where the elderly need constant supervision or care in institutions. Their contribution to most elderly and their families is only partial. The rights afforded to the informal caregivers are relatively few, are limited and are all concentrated in the domain of occupational support, and this also in a restricted manner. Key message Family caregiving in an aging society: Key policy questions.

Family Care for Older Adults With Disabilities: Toward More Targeted and Interpretable Research

2002 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph E. Gaugler ◽  
Robert L. Kane ◽  
Rosalie A. Kane
Keyword(s):  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Caregiving ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Family Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Residential Settings ◽  
The Past

Family care of the elderly is key to the long-term care system, and its importance has led to an abundance of research over the past two decades. Several methodological and substantive issues, if addressed, could create even more targeted and interpretable research. The present review critically examines methodological topics (i.e., definitions of family caregiving, measurement of caregiving inputs) and conceptual issues (i.e., family involvement in long-term residential settings, and the care receiver's perspective on care) that have received insufficient attention in the caregiving literature. Throughout this review recommendations are offered to improve these areas and advance the state of the art.

scholarly journals Tensions between ‘consumerism’ in elderly care and the social rights of family carers: a German-Danish comparison

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Pfau-Effinger ◽  
Ralf Och ◽  
Per H. Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Elderly Person ◽  
Family Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care Givers ◽  
Legal Construction

The focus of this article is on the effects of the strengthening of economic principles in the field of care that have taken place in many European welfare states since the 1990s, which are connected with new emphases on ‘choice', on the role of the market in the provision of elderly care, and on efficiency as a new main welfare value. As a central part of this development, the figure of the elderly person in need of care, who was interpreted before these changes as the client or patient, has been replaced by the figure of a ‘consumer' who makes ‘free choices'. In most countries the frail elderly can choose between offers by different providers of home care who compete on the care market and care performed by family members. The focus of this article is on the legal construction of the working conditions of the family care giver. It aims to give an answer to two different research questions: How do different welfare states legally construct the working conditions of caring family members and their relationship with the elderly ‘care consumers'? And to what degree does this cause tensions between the desire to care or not to care and actual care conditions and opportunities? In order to answer these questions, we compared the legal construction of the work situation of family care givers in Germany and Denmark, as well as the resulting effects on their relationship with the older relatives who receive care. The findings show that the degree to which ‘consumerism' in long-term care causes tensions in the situation of the caring family member and in the care relationship depends on the ways in which it is embedded in a family-care regime. In this regard, the tensions are clearly greater in the semi-formal family-care regime of Germany compared to the formal family-care regime in Denmark.       

scholarly journals Registered nurses’ role experiences of caring for older stroke patients: a qualitative study

BMC Nursing ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Cheng ◽  
Jiong Tu ◽  
Xiaoyan Shen
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Education ◽  
Older People ◽  
Registered Nurses ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Nursing Clinical Practice

Abstract Background With China’s population ageing rapidly, stroke is becoming one of the major public health problems. Nurses are indispensable for caring for older patients with acute and convalescent stroke, and their working experiences are directly linked to the quality of care provided. The study aims to investigate registered nurses’ experiences of caring for older stroke patients. Methods A qualitative descriptive design was adopted. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 26 registered nurses about their lived experiences of caring for older stroke patients. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Results Two main themes were identified. First, the nurses identified an obvious gap between their ideal role in elderly care and their actual practice. The unsatisfactory reality was linked to the practical difficulties they encountered in their working environment. Second, the nurses expressed conflicting feelings about caring for older stroke patients, displaying a sense of accomplishment, indifference, annoyance, and sympathy. Caring for older stroke patients also affects nurses psychologically and physically. The nurses were clear about their own roles and tried their best to meet the elderly people’s needs, yet they lack time and knowledge about caring for older stroke patients. The factors influencing their working experiences extend beyond the personal domain and are linked to the wider working environment. Conclusions Sustaining the nursing workforce and improving their working experiences are essential to meet the care needs of older people. Understanding nurses’ lived working experiences is the first step. At the individual level, nurse mangers should promote empathy, relieve anxiety about aging, and improve the job satisfaction and morale of nurses. At the institutional level, policymakers should make efforts to improve the nursing clinical practice environment, increase the geriatric nursing education and training, achieve a proper skill mix of the health workforce, and overall attract, prepare and sustain nurses regarding caring for older people in a rapidly aging society.

“Caring for the Elderly is Very Difficult”: Challenges and Coping Strategies of Caregivers in Urban Poor Accra, Ghana

2020 ◽  
pp. 105477382098230
Author(s):  
Frank Kyei-Arthur ◽  
Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe
Keyword(s):  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Family Caregiving ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Care Recipients ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
And Coping

This study is part of a broader phenomenological study on the experiences of family caregivers and their care recipients. There is a general paucity of research on the experiences of primary and secondary caregivers, and the negative impact of elderly care on caregivers in the urban poor settings in Ghana. This study explored primary and secondary caregivers’ challenges and coping strategies in the urban poor context in Accra, Ghana. This study was conducted in Ga Mashie. Thirty-one caregivers were interviewed. A phenomenological analysis was conducted using NVivo 10. Primary and secondary caregivers experienced economic, physical, social, and psychological burdens. Also, caregivers used spirituality and perseverance to cope with their challenges. The findings demonstrate that caregivers’ challenges varied by type of caregiver. Researchers and policymakers should consider the type of caregiver when designing interventions to mitigate the negative impacts of family caregiving on caregivers.

Cross-national data on informal caregivers of older people with long-term care needs in the European population: time for a more coordinated and comparable approach

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Aviad Tur-Sinai ◽  
Andrea Teti ◽  
Alexander Rommel ◽  
Valentina Hlebec ◽  
Stecy Yghemonos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Care ◽  
Informal Caregivers ◽  
European Population ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Interview Survey ◽  
European Health ◽  
European Health Interview Survey

Abstract To promote long-term care policies for older adults, accurate mapping of the often invisible and insufficiently recognized role of their informal caregivers is needed. This paper measures the prevalence of informal caregivers in the European population, illustrates current difficulties in gathering unequivocal information on this topic and deals with the scientific and policy implications of the problem. Using the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS), the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) and the Study on Health and Ageing in Europe (SHARE), the current difficulties in gathering unequivocal information on this topic are illustrated. In most countries, the share of informal caregivers varies, sometimes markedly, among the three surveys. As for the sex of caregivers, while confirming the well-known higher prevalence of caregivers among women than among men, large variations emerge across the three surveys in most countries in respect of the two sexes. The takeaway message of the paper is that it is urgent to promote international concerted action in gathering comprehensive informal caregiving information and/or exploring in greater depth the different intercultural understandings of informal care itself.

Informal caregivers in Chile: the equity dimension of an invisible burden

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 792-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Villalobos Dintrans
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Care ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Informal Caregivers ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Vicious Cycle ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Term Care

Abstract Population aging is driving a process of increase in long-term care needs in Chile and many countries around the world. In this context, this article asks about the consequences of this increase in informal caregivers, emphasizing the inequity issues arising from these changes. Using the CASEN 2017 survey, caregivers are identified and matched to people with long-term care needs. Results show that most caregivers are women, and a large fraction of them are also elderly; this is similar to what has been found previously in developed countries. Caregivers have fewer opportunities than non-caregivers, which translates into lower income-generating ability and higher poverty. The nature of these tasks creates a vicious cycle in which people get trapped with increasing needs and fewer resources to meet them. Important differences arise between caregivers and the rest of the population. Even more concerning is that these disparities are avoidable to some extent, adding an equity dimension to the problem. This emphasizes the need for the generation of policies that will support caregivers and meet their needs.

scholarly journals An ecological study on the relationship between supply of beds in long-term care institutions in Italy and potential care needs for the elderly

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianfranco Damiani ◽  
Simona C Colosimo ◽  
Lorella Sicuro ◽  
Alessandra Burgio ◽  
Alessandra Battisti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Study ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Term Care ◽  
The Relationship

The Changing Profile of the Elderly: Effects on Future Long-Term Care Needs and Financing

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Rafferty Zedlewski ◽  
Timothy D. McBride
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Term Care

scholarly journals Elderly Care: An Examination of Shahuchi Old People’s Home, Kano, Nigeria

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patience E. Ukiri Mudiare
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Living ◽  
Filial Piety ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Gender Segregation ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Assisted Living Facilities ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care For The Elderly ◽  
Proactive Measures

In Nigeria, it is expected that children take care of their parents in their old age. However, it is increasingly becoming more difficult for children to cater for their aged parents who are not economically buoyant. Because of filial piety, the idea of putting one’s parents in an institution like old people’s home is an anathema for most people. Yet the need for such homes and other specialized care for the elderly is obvious in the light of the burden being experienced by women who are the major primary caregivers. This study of an Old People’s Home in Kano revealed that other than the accommodation and feeding provided, there are no specialized programmes and facilities to cater for the physical, mental and social needs of the elderly. Gender segregation is enforced but no consideration is given to differences in age, physical and developmental challenges. This highlights the urgent need for the Nigerian government to take more proactive measures in its policy on ageing by making provisions for long-term care facilities, residential arrangements with assisted living facilities, and adult day care centres with competent personnel.

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