Decreased health: Many caregivers report being short on time, leading to skipping meals, sleeping less and not paying attention to their health. More and more older adults are living with their adult children, but before moving in with an aging loved one, it's important to consider both the advantages and disadvantages of multigenerational homes. It's important that you understand the challenges of multigenerational life for your parents and that their experience may be very different from yours. Here's a more detailed look at the pros and cons of living with an aging loved one.
If you're thinking about living with an older parent, chances are you're in a healthy relationship. If you don't, here are some tips for talking to an older parent about not living together. In any case, it becomes more important. The importance of being independent is twofold for older people.
Independence is sometimes the only thing that older people can feel they can control, as certain aspects of their lives change with age. In addition, maintaining independence promotes a sense of accomplishment and purpose that, for many older people, generates a great sense of self-esteem and well-being. When an aging parent moves in with you, it can sometimes feel like there's a fine line between caring and controlling. Even though your parents are getting older and may need a little more help than before, they're still adults. It can be a challenge to move from being the head of the household to taking a secondary role in the household and feeling that your children are raising them.
Going through the aging process is difficult. Aging at home, even if it's not your own home, can help ease the transition. It's usually synonymous with familiar environments and routines for your parents and a sense of control over what they do and how they live (although many older people feel that moving to an assisted living facility actually gives them more independence).The most important thing to consider is how your relationships will be affected by caring for your loved one, especially if your parents are moving into your home. Social activities that you once enjoyed can become difficult when you never know when you'll need to return to “caregiver mode.” Your marriage could be tested if your loved one's lack of privacy and care needs interfere with your time together.
After a while, your spouse may start to resent this change in style of life. When you combine homes, you'll only have one set of utility bills and rent or mortgage payments. If your parents move in with you, the sale of their house could even make a profit. This can be especially useful for older people who can't afford to keep their own home.
Instead, older parents can use that money to help pay utility bills and other household expenses. Depending on your situation, keeping your loved ones at home may be less expensive than home care or assisted living. Before deciding whether to leave your loved one at home, be sure to evaluate their long-term care needs. Do these needs exceed what you can easily meet with your family's budget? It's extremely important to consider the financial aspect of keeping your loved one at home, as this advantage could quickly turn into a disadvantage. One thing that many caregivers forget to consider when caring for an aging parent at home, whether at home or in their own, are the dangers that a typical home can entail and the modifications necessary to make living conditions safer and more manageable.
Parents want to take care of themselves and prefer not to see that they need help, but they also often expect that their children's help will be available if they need it. How do you find a balance between caring and controlling? This chapter examines the multiple and changing roles of caregivers of older adults and the impact of assuming these roles on the health and well-being of caregivers. Describes the tasks of caregivers, the dynamic nature of providing care over time, the increasing complexity and scope of caregiver responsibilities, and issues related to decision-making surrogates. Family care is more intensive, complex and long-lasting than in the past, and caregivers rarely receive adequate preparation for their role.
There is compelling evidence to suggest that many caregivers suffer from negative psychological effects. Some caregivers are at greater risk than others, especially those who spend long hours caring for older adults with advanced dementia. Caregivers must have access to high-quality, evidence-based interventions designed to mitigate or prevent adverse health effects. Depression is one of the most common negative effects of caregiving.
Sharing a home with another person, especially one of the parents, can be a major change. It can be difficult to maintain privacy and personal space, which can lead to tension and conflict. Before understanding the advantages and disadvantages of nursing homes, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of their services. Nursing homes are especially welcoming residential places for older people with physical and mental or security-related problems. An example may be socioeconomic status; people of low socioeconomic status are more likely to assume the role of caregivers, and a low socioeconomic status is a risk factor for poor health.
They allow family caregivers to make better decisions, save time and money, and feel less alone (and less stressed) as they face the many challenges that come with caregiving. This can cause feelings of loneliness and discomfort when someone outside the family cares for them. As people increasingly move in search of work and higher education, their aging parents often stay home. Your aging parents have a deep emotional connection to the home they've spent so many years in. Therefore, it's important that you know the advantages and disadvantages of nursing homes to provide the best old age care to your parents or elderly family members.
For example, more than 20 percent of caregivers say that providing care is difficult financially and physically, and 44 percent say it's emotionally difficult. In a review article of 23 studies, Vitaliano et al. (200) found that caregivers of people with dementia reported having more risky health behaviors than people who did not care for other patients. Family relationships and quality of life can also be affected by the demands of caregiving, although this topic has received relatively little attention in the care literature.
The effects of caregiving are variable and depend on the individual's intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics. Researchers in nursing and social work must develop and test interventions designed to maintain and improve the health of caregivers. Mitigating care-related injuries requires a careful evaluation of the home environment, an understanding of the demands of caring tasks, and the caregiver's physical capabilities. After monitoring initial health status, Brown and colleagues found that people who provided instrumental support to friends, family or neighbors and people who provided emotional support to their spouses had lower five-year mortality rates than those who didn't help other people or support their spouses. As you would expect, caring for people with high care needs, such as people with dementia or self-care needs, creates more difficulties for the person caring for than for people with lower needs.
The diversity of families, the time at which the role of caregiver is assumed, the length of the function in relation to the general life cycle of the caregiver, and the transitions in care experienced over time shape the nature of the role of caregiver. In short, the role of family caregiver is wide-ranging and often requires a significant time commitment.
