¶ … Long-Term Care on the Family
Social Factors Affecting Care Giving
Effects of Divorce
Effects of Abuse and Neglect
Effects of Women in the Workforce
Proximity and Other Factors
The Long-term Care Shortage
Factor Involved
Future Trends
Formal Long-term Care: The Impact on Society
Minority Issues
Financial Impact on Family
Social Workers and Home Caregivers
The Effects on the Caregiver
Physical and Emotional Symptoms
Five Major Causes of Stress Among Home Caregivers
Wearing Many Hats
The Impact and Cost of Long-term Care on the Family
Long-term care can be needed for a variety of reasons from accident injuries, debilitating and long-term illness, or simply due to becoming elderly. There are sometimes when persons cannot care for themselves and must rely on others for their daily needs. Sometimes the care takes place in a facility designed to provide such services. However, sometimes the burden of caring for loved ones falls on family members or even friends. Long-term care places a strain on people financially. This has been the primary focus of health care policy regarding long-term care in the past. However, there is an often-overlooked aspect of long-term care.
Long-term care has many emotional issues associated with it as well, not only for the patient, but for the caregiver as well. These issues can cause a variety of difficulties including depression, fatigue, stress and can even lead to the break up of a family. These issues place an even greater burden on the system and society as a whole. These issues must be considered when making new long-term health care policies. These issues will be the focus of the following research.
The problems associated with long-term health care of the elderly and sick have many facets. Long-term health care in facilities, such as nursing homes is expensive. The United States is facing a growing shortage of health care workers to care for the elderly and this trend is expected to worsen. In many cases families choose to care for the person at home rather than incur potentially devastating costs. When family care is not an option and the family does not have the resources to pay, the government must foot the bill. Caring for a patient at home is expensive as well, and often places an incredible financial strain on the family. The following research will explore these issues from many angles and will discuss potential solutions.
Social Factors Affecting Care Giving
There was a time when long-term care facilities did not exist and the entire burden of caring for the elderly or sick was always placed on the family. There are many who feel that this the way it still is and should be, However, the family structures are changing and this concept has now been shown to be a myth (Montgomery, 1999). This shifting family structure means that an increasing number of elderly persons are relying on long-term care facilities to replace the traditional family role. The following will explore some of the issues behind these trends.
Divorce rates have been climbing for many years and the traditional idea of the nuclear is quickly being re-defined. As a result, there are now more elderly people who are divorced. The effects of this trend can be shown in the long-term care that these elders are likely to receive from their children. Divorce can harm family ties and often creates feelings of resentment or rejection in many family members. According to a study conducted by Shone and Pezzin, (1999) divorce makes it less likely that families will help each other financially or in terms of physical care. The key findings of this study were that adult children of divorced children were less likely to receive financial assistance from their parents. In addition, stepparents were less likely to receive care from their children than biological parents were. The study found that remarriage reduced the likelihood that an elderly person would receive care even further (Shone and Pezzin, 1999).
A history of abuse or neglect in the family may be a factor in whether elderly persons receive care from their children. Child abuse and neglect severs family ties and can have an impact on whether the person receives care in their elder years (CASA, 2001). This issue is often an overlooked effect of child abuse. Many consider the immediate social costs of child abuse. However, the willingness to care for the elderly is a long-term effect of childhood abuse and neglect. Current studies only focus the effects to the abused...
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