An additional issue is the possible impact of the level of burden on the partner’s perception of the patient. Partners are often requested to make proxy decisions on behalf of patients, such as those patients who are incompetent by reason of mental illness, brain damage, and/or dementia (Wakefield, et.al, 2011). These judgments can be, and typically are, influenced by the partner’s own interests; that is, a partner may covertly request care and treatment options he or she wants for the patient, rather than those the patient would select if free to choose. This situation is likely to be compounded by the fact that the reliability and validity of doctors’ and nurses’ assessments of patient quality of life are even lower than those of partners
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A caregiver may have complete responsibility of their spouse at home, or partial responsibility in an institutional setting. It may include attending to an individual’s emotional well-being and/or physical health. It may involve long-term caregiving for an individual whose chronic illness has ongoing, consistent symptoms or have a physical disability, or may be intermittent and sporadic as in the case of someone who has an acute episode of a chronic illness, such as the early stage of Alzheimer’s (Gillick, 2013).
Partners bear a larger proportion of the burden of care than do other primary caregivers. Caregiving appears to have a greater negative impact on female partners, especially younger women, although some studies contradict this and have found males are affected worse. Partners living alone with their spouse and those with lower incomes experience particular difficulties (Becker, 2001). One study of partners of long-term stroke patients claimed the highest burden was found in those partners who themselves had unmet care needs, such as psychosocial support, and was not related to unmet care needs of the …show more content…
Coping refers to the efforts made by an individual to overcome demands or challenges that are perceived as taxing or stressful while a coping style refers to the general approach an individual takes to stressful situations and is generally seen to fall into two broad categories: problem-focused and emotion-focused. Problem-focused coping refers to an individual’s efforts to improve a stressful situation through action, and emotion-focused coping refers to thoughts or actions taken in an effort to reduce the impact of a stressful situation (Benson, 2006). For each style of coping, many different strategies emerge; some of these may have positive outcomes for the individual- meditating, researching the illness; and others may have negative side effects- drug/alcohol use, problem avoidance. Certain situations are more amenable to one style of coping over another. In other situations, when it enables a person to maintain a sense of wellbeing, emotion can be useful and healthy. It should be noted that individuals in a caregiving role do not exclusively employ one style or another, but rather combine complex combinations in different
A caregiver may have complete responsibility of their spouse at home, or partial responsibility in an institutional setting. It may include attending to an individual’s emotional well-being and/or physical health. It may involve long-term caregiving for an individual whose chronic illness has ongoing, consistent symptoms or have a physical disability, or may be intermittent and sporadic as in the case of someone who has an acute episode of a chronic illness, such as the early stage of Alzheimer’s (Gillick, 2013).
Partners bear a larger proportion of the burden of care than do other primary caregivers. Caregiving appears to have a greater negative impact on female partners, especially younger women, although some studies contradict this and have found males are affected worse. Partners living alone with their spouse and those with lower incomes experience particular difficulties (Becker, 2001). One study of partners of long-term stroke patients claimed the highest burden was found in those partners who themselves had unmet care needs, such as psychosocial support, and was not related to unmet care needs of the …show more content…
Coping refers to the efforts made by an individual to overcome demands or challenges that are perceived as taxing or stressful while a coping style refers to the general approach an individual takes to stressful situations and is generally seen to fall into two broad categories: problem-focused and emotion-focused. Problem-focused coping refers to an individual’s efforts to improve a stressful situation through action, and emotion-focused coping refers to thoughts or actions taken in an effort to reduce the impact of a stressful situation (Benson, 2006). For each style of coping, many different strategies emerge; some of these may have positive outcomes for the individual- meditating, researching the illness; and others may have negative side effects- drug/alcohol use, problem avoidance. Certain situations are more amenable to one style of coping over another. In other situations, when it enables a person to maintain a sense of wellbeing, emotion can be useful and healthy. It should be noted that individuals in a caregiving role do not exclusively employ one style or another, but rather combine complex combinations in different