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Saturday, 29 October 2011
Learning Objective 1: 1. Identify characteristics of caregiving that are unique to the older adult providing care at the end of life.
Learning Objective 2: 2. Identify the importance of viewing the older adult caregiver as both a co-provider and co-recipient of care.
It is well known that the population in the United States is aging, with the number of people aged 60 years or older expected to triple over the next 50 years. As the population ages, so do the family caregivers providing the primary care, with 20-25% of caregivers estimated to be over 65 years of age. This aging of the population coupled with the moving of institutionalized care into the community has resulted in an increased reliance on family members to provide care to those at the end of life. There is little debate that family caregivers experience a significant amount of burden and strain as a result of their caregiver roles, less well known is how the caregiving role affects the older adult. Providing the framework for this study is the Model of Caregiving Through the End of Life, a theoretical model that conceptualizes four phases of caregiving punctuated by key transitions a caregiver experiences as the patient’s illness progresses from pre-diagnosis through bereavement. The purpose of this study is to explore if older adults providing end-of-life care face unique challenges as co-providers and co-recipients of care. This paper describes an instrumental case study using purposive sampling across three distinct end-of-life care trajectories. Themes that emerged from the case study included: difficulty of managing the patient’s co-morbidities, caregiver exhaustion and feeling overwhelmed, managing their own health issues but often looking after the needs of the patient at the expense of their own health, and feelings of isolation.
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