By : Lamiaa Moustafa Elbosaty
Caregivers are a critical national health care resource, families often are a primary source of home care and support for older relatives, contributing services that would cost hundreds of billion of dollars annually if they had to be purchased (Adams , 2008). Caregivers need to talk about their experiences and to be listened to, and the presence of resources and support requirements. The caregivers said that their ability as caregivers was limited; many did not know what resources are available or how to locate new resources. Many caregivers are carrying out their role dutifully, but feel isolation, suggesting that there is a lack of social understanding and policies about informal caregivers (Zabalequi, et al., 2008).
The family caregiver needs educative support from the nurse on how to care for loved one, who can no longer meet his or her own physical needs or ADLs. Family caregivers assume an exhausting, 24 hours, and 7days a week job for someone who shows less and less appreciation for what they do and, with time, does not even recognize who they are (Ham, 2002).
Nurses can help family caregivers to identify their negative experience about caregiving and can help them reflect upon their coping strategies to find balance in their situation. Risk groups of caregivers may be identified, especially those with low perceived health and sense of coherence, for early intervention to reduce burden. Nurse should be providing emotional support and counseling and serving as a coordinator of available community resources, the nurse can significantly help to relieve the stress on the family caregivers (Signe & Sölve, 2008).
The nurse must assess the family and the client to determine their need for information and instruction about the illness, care of the clients, and support for the caregivers. The use of psycho-educational approaches has been demonstrated effective in enhancing family coping, and reducing caregiver depression and anger (Hepburn et al., 2003).
According to McIntyre and Cole (2008), the love stories is a spoken-word performance created from data gathered from family caregivers about their experiences of caring for a loved one with dementia. Loving care brings to the person with dementia opportunities for attachment, identity, inclusion, occupation and comfort.
Significance of the Study:
Needs and problems due to caregiving of demented persons are a major source of caregiver's burden, and even burnout. Although 80% of caregiving is provided by family caregivers, there is deficit of support and services provided to them. Many international studies have defined the needs and problems of family caregiver dealing with demented person, yet there is a scarcity of local studies dealing with this problem.
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