Search results

Elderly patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation are treated with a tracheostomy. Oftentimes, the family caregivers need to participate in the care for elderly patients with a tracheostomy during hospitalization. Therefore, this paper was conducted to acknowledge what family caregivers experience while caregiving for hospitalized elderly patients with a tracheostomy.

This literature review identifies family caregiver participation in caregiving for the elderly patient, the impact of caregiving, and the needs of family caregivers.

Family caregivers participate in the planning and provision of care to elderly patients. Furthermore, they also collaborate in the therapeutic process for elderly patients as well. Albeit the former sentiments, they experience physical, psychological, social and financial consequences of caregiving. It has been revealed that during the process of caring for their loved ones, family caregivers often experience poor sleep quality, strain, reduction in social interaction and insufficient income. Thus, health-care professionals should support and provide care for the needs of family caregivers. This can be achieved through providing information on prognosis, the care plan, emotional support and collaboration during the therapeutic process to provide better care for elderly patients with a tracheostomy. In addition, family caregivers’ relatives can also provide financial support and rotation of caregiving schedules to avoid burnout.

The paper indicates that family caregivers experience the impacts of caregiving. They should be supported by health-care professionals and their relatives.

The purpose of this research is to propose and empirically validate a theoretical framework to investigate the willingness of the elderly to disclose personal health information (PHI) to improve the operational efficiency of AI-integrated caregiver robots.

Drawing upon Privacy Calculus Theory (PCT) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), 274 usable responses were collected through an online survey.

Empirical results reveal that trust, privacy concerns, and social isolation have a direct impact on the willingness to disclose PHI. Perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), social isolation, and recognized benefits significantly influence user trust. Conversely, elderly individuals with pronounced privacy concerns are less inclined to disclose PHI when using AI-enabled caregiver robots.

Given the pressing need for AI-enabled caregiver robots due to the aging population and a decrease in professional human caregivers, understanding factors that influence the elderly's disclosure of PHI can guide design considerations and policymaking.

Considering the increased demand for accurate and comprehensive elder services, this is the first time that information disclosure and AI-enabled caregiver robot technologies have been combined in the field of healthcare management. This study bridges the gap between the necessity for technological improvement in caregiver robots and the importance of transparent operational information by disclosing the elderly's willingness to share PHI.

Family members provide the bulk of care to persons in later life, representing the vast majority of caregivers. However, studies confirm that men with a history of divorce are less likely than married men to view family members as potential caregivers. This chapter presents findings from a qualitative study on the experiences of 21 ex-wives who chose to provide mostly end-of-life care to their ex-husbands in mid- and late-life. We examine questions about the situational and motivating factors behind ex-wife caregivers’ decisions, and provide, as background, findings about their pre- and post-divorce relationships. Relational outcomes of the caregiving situation also are considered. Several themes emerge, including patterns of proximity and continued contact post-divorce, despite often chaotic former marital relationships; a desire to spare children from the burdens of care; and an opportunity to renew communication or connections with family through the process of caregiving. Implications of our findings include the need to acknowledge ex-spouses as potential caregivers and better understand the enduring bonds between ex-spouses.

This study compared different types of full-time caregiver (e.g., children, older adults, COVID-19 patients) and subgroups (e.g., disability, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation) in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic for potentially meaningful distinctions.

Data from the 9,854 full-time caregivers identified in Phase 3.2 (July 21–October 11, 2021) of the US Census Household Pulse Survey (HPS) were analyzed in this study using multinomial logistic regression to examine relationships between caregiver types, marginalized subgroups, generation, and vaccination status.

The prevalence of caregiving was low, but the type of full-time caregiving performed varied by demographic group (i.e., disability, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, generation, and vaccination status). The relative risk of being a COVID-19 caregiver remained significant for being a member of each of the marginalized groups examined after all adjustments.

To date, the HPS has not been analyzed to predict the type of full-time informal caregiving performed during the COVID-19 pandemic or their characteristics. Research limitations of this analysis include the cross-sectional, experimental dataset employed, as well as some variable measurement issues.

Prior informal caregiver research has often focused on the experiences of those caring for older adults or children with special healthcare needs. It may be instructive to learn whether and how informal caregivers excluded from paid employment during infectious disease outbreaks vary in meaningful ways from those engaged in other full-time caregiving. Because COVID-19 magnified equity concerns, examining demographic differences may also facilitate customization of pathways to post-caregiving workforce integration.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether family caregivers with a stronger sense of coherence (SOC) who are caring for community dwelling older adults with cognitive impairment are less likely to use mental health services. An adaptation of the Anderson behavioral model of access to health care was employed as a conceptual framework. Data were collected for 304 impaired older adult/family caregiver dyads. Caregiver mental health service use and sense of coherence were measures as well as predisposing factors (age, gender, race, education, type of familial relationship, family size, and co-residence with impaired family member), enabling factors (self-reported awareness of services, travel times to mental health services, social support, and insurance), and need factors (chronic health conditions and distress). The impaired elder’s age, level of physical impairment, and level of memory impairment were also examined. Logistic regression results indicated that caregivers who have a stronger SOC were less likely to use mental health services (OR=0.91, p=0.006). Other significant independent predictors of mental health service use were social support (OR=0.34, p=0.032) and caregivers aiding family members with higher levels of physical impairment (OR=1.14, p=0.033). The results of this study support clinicians and planners developing mental health services that use SOC to mitigate the detrimental effects of caregiving. Future research is needed to target effective measures to positively manipulate this variable.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the informal micro-level mechanisms through which caregivers maximize their health literacy and caregiving skill-set, particularly in cases of emergent, pervasive health disorders. Specifically, I investigate how important micro-level social factors, such as lay self-education and local community networks, mitigate extensive experiences of medical uncertainty that are associated with caring for a child with autism. This study theorizes a series of processes of becoming lay health care professionals (HCP), which serve as effective health care interventions and ways to secure vital resources for patients and their families.

This study uses qualitative research methods in the form of 50 individual intensive interviews with primary caregivers of at least one child under the age of 18 with an official autism diagnosis, as well as two years of participant-observation at two primary sites that are autism parent and caregiver resource meetings, both located in Northern California.

This study first demonstrates the major institutional limits and gaps involved in health-related caregiving for children with autism. Next, I define the processes through which caregivers challenge these institutional constraints and fight for life altering resources for their families, which include becoming a lay diagnostician and expert caregiver. Here, I demonstrate a sophisticated set of health literacy skills and key local community-based ties that caregivers develop and rely on, which affords families the tools to overcome diverse institutional obstacles in health-seeking and health care access.

The families in this study are predominantly white, middle-class, and reside in California. For future research, the scope of the study could be expanded by increasing the sample size and including greater geographic and demographic diversity.

This study contributes vital, yet missing, pieces to the autism puzzle, which currently focuses on prevention, the fight for a so-called “cure,” and the role of vaccines in disorder prevalence. In the meantime, families are living with autism each day and are struggling for understanding and knowledge, and to secure adequate support services. In doing so, this study sheds light on current institutional gaps and limits in health care and delivery for children with autism, and suggests specific effective health care interventions applicable to other cases of emergent illnesses and disorders.

Guided by a life course theoretical perspective, this study aimed to examine associations between providing caregiving for a young or adult son or daughter with special needs and multiple dimensions of physical health status among married midlife and older adults, as well as moderation of these associations by gender and marital quality (i.e., marital strain).

Regression models were estimated using data from 1,058 married adults aged 33–83 (National Survey of Midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS), 2005).

Parental caregiving for a young or adult child with special needs (in contrast to no caregiving) was linked to poorer global health and more physical symptoms among both fathers and mothers. Father caregivers reported slightly more chronic conditions than noncaregiving men, regardless of marital quality. By contrast, mother caregivers reported a much higher number of chronic conditions when they also reported a high level of marital strain, but not when they reported a low level of marital strain.

Overall, results provide evidence from a national sample that midlife and older parents providing caregiving for a child with special needs are at risk for poorer health outcomes, and further tentatively suggest that greater marital strain may exacerbate health risks, particularly among married mother caregivers.

The rapid growth of mass incarceration in the United States means that a historically unprecedented number of children are exposed to paternal incarceration. Despite a growing literature investigating the intergenerational consequences of incarceration, little research collects information from the children who experience paternal incarceration. In this chapter, we describe an ongoing data collection effort, the Jail & Family Life Study, a longitudinal in-depth interview study designed to understand the consequences of paternal incarceration for families and children. Part of this study involves conducting in-depth interviews with 8- to 17-year-old children of incarcerated fathers during and after the father’s incarceration. First, we document the challenges and strategies to gaining access to children of incarcerated fathers, paying particular attention to the role of children’s mothers and caregivers in facilitating this access. Second, we document the challenges and strategies to developing rapport with this group of vulnerable children. Third, we describe the opportunities that children can provide for researchers. Taken together, these findings suggest that it is both challenging and imperative to incorporate children into research on the collateral consequences of incarceration.

Preferences of both Alzheimer patients and their spouse caregivers are related to a willingness-to-pay (WTP) measure which is used to test for the presence of mutual (rather than conventional unilateral) altruism.

Contingent valuation experiments were conducted in 2000–2002, involving 126 Alzheimer patients and their caregiving spouses living in the Zurich metropolitan area (Switzerland). WTP values for three hypothetical treatments of the demented patient were elicited. The treatment Stabilization prevents the worsening of the disease, bringing dementia to a standstill. Cure restores patient health to its original level. In No burden, dementia takes its normal course while caregiver’s burden is reduced to its level before the disease.

The three different types of therapies are reflected in different WTP values of both caregivers and patients, suggesting that moderate levels of Alzheimer’s disease still permit clear expression of preference. According to the WTP values found, patients do not rank Cure higher than No burden, implying that their preferences are entirely altruistic. Caregiving spouses rank Cure before Burden, reflecting less than perfect altruism which accounts for some 40 percent of their total WTP. Still, this constitutes evidence of mutual altruism.

The evidence suggests that WTP values reflect individuals’ preferences even in Alzheimer patients. The estimates suggest that an economically successful treatment should provide relief to caregivers, with its curative benefits being of secondary importance.

Dementia is characterized by the progressive decline in cognitive and daily functioning. Although the decline is often the defining characteristic of dementia in biomedical models, several scholars highlight the preserved skills of persons with dementia. Identity, or a sense of self, is among the areas relatively preserved in the later stages of dementia. It is the window through which caregivers understand the subjective experiences of persons with dementia.

This qualitative exploratory study highlights the value of social relationships, particularly the role of the Filipino family in recognizing personhood and maintaining identity in dementia care. Preserving identity entails understanding the person’s unique characteristics that reflect one’s sense of self. In a highly collectivistic culture, such as the Philippines, the family is crucial to preserving identity and overall well-being in dementia. This study explores the perspectives of 15 Filipino caregivers as regards caring for a family member with dementia. Participants discuss changes in family structure and the challenges in dementia care. More importantly, they delve into strategies used to preserve identity and encourage life participation in their loved one with dementia. Essential Filipino cultural values in dementia care, such as collectivism, religion, and the values of filial piety and utang na loob (or debt of gratitude) are further discussed.