By : Lamiaa Moustafa Elbosaty
There are only four kinds of people in the world, those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers. The family has remained the strongest and the only supportive and long-term care institution for demented persons in most of developing countries (Prince, 2004).
Family members or others caring for a person with dementia have an extremely difficult and stressful job, which become harder as the disease prognosis. Dementia caregivers spend significantly more time on caregiving than do people proving care for those with other type of illnesses. These types of caregiving also had a greater impact in terms of employment complications, caregiver strain, mental and physical health problems, time for leisure, and family conflict then do other types of caregiving. It's common for dementia caregivers to develop feelings of anger, resentment, guilt, and hopelessness, in addition to the sorrow they feel for their loved one and for themselves. Depression an extremely common consequence of being a full time caregiver for a person with dementia (Nauert, 2006).
It's estimated that more than 7 of 10 people with Alzheimer's live at home. Almost 75% of home care is provided by family and friends. Mostly, given with love and it is usually the best form of care. The remainder is paid care, costing upward of $12.5 billion per year, most of which is covered by families (Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders Association, 2001).
The average family caregivers provide 18 hours of care per week; 20% provide "constant care" or 40 hours a week. Ninety-two percent of elders are related to their working caregivers, and two – thirds of caregivers work full or part time, over half make adjustments in their work schedules, e.g., coming in late, taking time off, dropping back to part time or quitting. The average out-of-pocket expense for a family caregiver is $171 per month. Total un-reimbursed monthly expenses for family caregivers in $1.5 billion. Family caregivers account for and estimated $ 257 billion annually in services, if they were paid (Wart, 2005) .
Caregivers provide many kinds of help; house cleaning, letter writing, financial management, grocery shopping, bathing, feeding, transportation, dressing, help with walking and much more (Musolf, 2004). Family caregivers provide services to elderly relatives in the home, usually without the benefit of formal training, and they usually don't have choice about assuming care, since the costs for their family person's care often too high for the financial resources available. The numbers of people surviving into their 80s and 90s are expected to grow because of advances in medicine, medical technology, social and environmental conditions. Since the incidence and prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and dementia increases with age, the number of people with these conditions will also grow rapidly (Leahy, 2005).
Nearly one out of every four US household (23%) is involved in care- giving to persons aged 50 and over-one-quarter of the adult population worldwide help care for family members or friends. While, one in three family caregivers cares for two or more persons. Approximately 64% of caregivers of elderly are employed; they spend an average of 18 to 40 hours per month care giving. The need for health care workers will be tripled by 2050 (Thiemen, 2006).
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