Essay Sample on Difficulties Faced by Caregiver

Dealing with clients having cognitive disorders can be very challenging for the caregivers. Both the patient's family and professional caregivers may experience four major difficulties when managing their patient's conditions. These challenges include subjective burdens, physical and psychological morbidity, financial challenges and social isolation. Subjective burden entails spending a lot of time evaluating the patient's psychological, emotional, and physical state which can be cumbersome and problematic (Kucmanski et al., 2016). As a result, they may experience strain and mental tensions especially for patients with dementia or Alzheimer which are always hectic to manage.

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Physical and psychological morbidity is the other significant challenge that may be faced by the caregivers. Physical morbidity involves the risk of experiencing chronic diseases, engaging in drug abuse, or deterioration of their health conditions due to dedicating too much energy and time for the patients (Kim, Chang, Rose & Kim, 2012). Psychological morbidity, on the other hand, entails chance of the caregivers experiencing anxiety and depression as a result of their vigorous relationship with the patient (Rani, 2012). Both physical and psychological morbidity negatively affects their health hence increasing the risk of mortality if not managed.

Caregivers might also experience financial challenges while managing some cognitive disorders. For example, the cost of treating dementia is always high since and the patient's family may fail to afford consultation, pharmaceutical and treatment fee (Clissett, Porock, Harwood & Gladman, 2013). As a result, they receive poor quality health care which puts the life of their patient in great danger. Lastly, the caregivers may face social isolation as a result of sacrificing their valuable time to spend with their patients. Many caregivers are faced with the dilemma of ending their career, employment, or hobbies at the expense of managing the cognitive condition of their patients (Zwaanswijk, Peeters, Van Beek, Meerveld & Francke, 2013).

References

Clissett, P., Porock, D., Harwood, R. H., & Gladman, J. R. (2013). Experiences of family caregivers of older people with mental health problems in the acute general hospital: a qualitative study. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(12), 2707-2716.

Kim, H., Chang, M., Rose, K., & Kim, S. (2012). Predictors of caregiver burden in caregivers of individuals with dementia. Journal of advanced nursing, 68(4), 846-855.

Kucmanski, L. S., Zenevicz, L., Geremia, D. S., Madureira, V. S. F., Silva, T. G. D., & Souza, S. S. D. (2016). Alzheimer's disease: challenges faced by family caregivers. Revista Brasileira de Geriatria e Gerontologia, 19(6), 1022-1029.

Rani, U. (2012). Coping styles and interventions to reduce psychological distress in caregivers for the mentally challenged. Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 3(3), 281.

Zwaanswijk, M., Peeters, J. M., Van Beek, A. P., Meerveld, J. H., & Francke, A. L. (2013). Informal caregivers of people with dementia: problems, needs, and support in the initial stage and subsequent stages of dementia: a questionnaire survey. The Open Nursing Journal, 7, 6.