Caregiving The Family Elders

Taking care of the patients by the family members should be a collective responsibility of the concerned family members. The members ought to contribute their efforts together to balance the resources needed to solve the problem of disease outbreak in the family. Ideally, the care level anticipatory preparation is believed to be a comfort and satisfaction to the family members. The article reviews the techniques of taking care of the elderly parents by focusing on the primary caregiver who has the total responsibilities of the patient while addressing both the challenges and benefits of caregiving. However, if the family health is comprehensive such that all the members of the family are involved in the action, it becomes complicated because tallying the total the effects is difficult.

The other cultural aspects which affect the family health include; the variations of the family structure, the level of family unity, the gender roles and responsibilities, family decision-making structure, the issue of extended family and the social supports available. The other aspect that affects the family health response to the elders includes the psychological torture of the caregiver. Most of the previous studies conducted found out that the caregivers are always stressed and the duties are tiresome. According to Tennessee, those who take care of the elders experience challenges such as depression, burnout, loss of income and isolation (Given & Given, 2016, p. Furthermore, the duties delegated to the caregivers results in increased chances of distress and clinical depression. The complications brought by the emergence of multiple roles require the family members to adjust and offset the increased demands in the family structure.

Though, the family members would take a period to adjust. In addition to the already mentioned challenges, caregiving can result in financial shortages to the family members. Based on the condition, the family could be compelled to hire a helper. Hiring the helper would lead to additional expense to the family's cost of living (Land & Levine, 2016, p. The elders also feel positive and motivated to live longer when the family members are dedicated to taking care of them. Fredman (1996) reported that most of the caregivers often explained their positive experiences when taking care of the adults as rewarding and enjoyable  (Land & Levine, 2016, p. The caregivers are also proud of their dedications to assist those who are needs especially the aged. Ideally, the rewards to the caregivers accumulate both during the time spent while looking after the elders and also during the generation when the elder has passed away.

Generally, the caregivers develop the comfort life expecting rewards after taking care of the elders. The health professionals argue that the family structure determines the challenges of caregiving because the elders' illness is a challenge to the family members and therefore, the benefits of caregiving are directly received by the whole family affected (Lollar & Talley, 2013, p. The health providers ought to involve the family members in the whole process of service delivery. In the view of respect to the cultural diversity, the health professionals should assess the elders’ preferences on the best caregiver from the family to be left looking after the patient while taking care of the family structure and gender roles. The procedure would also help the doctors to get the preferred caregiver who will facilitate the understanding of the elders’ illness.