CAREGIVERS’ EXPERIENCE IN PROVIDING CARE FOR THE BED-BOUND ELDERLY

Abstract

Caregivers‘ are at risk of experiencing caregiver burden. It is therefore important to determine the caregiver burden of caregivers who provide care to bedridden elderly and related factors. The aim of this study is to determine the caregiver burden of caregivers who provide care to bedridden elderly and the factors that impact their burden. This study assessed the level of stress experienced by caregivers of the bed bound elderly and determined the association of caregiving burden with different characteristics of the quality of care provided for the bed bound elderly. The the study is qualitative in nature. Multiple case study design was used with selected respondents purposively selected. The research questions posed enquired about the experiences faced by the caregivers of the bed bound elderly and the coping mechanisms adopted by them to provide quality of care for the bed bound elderlies, it also looked into the aspect of community resources or supporting schemes to easen the caregivers burden. The study is woven around the caregiver burden themes - physiological challenges, psychological challenges, social challenges, financial challenges and problems faced on a daily basis. The overall findings of the research indicate that the caregivers are facing challenges due to physical, psychological, social and financial constraints. Most of the caregivers are unaware about the resources and provisions they are entitled to receive from the government and none of them felt the need to undergo professional training to be a caregiver, thus they lack knowledge and find it stressful in emergency situations. Some of the caregiver‘s experience compassion fatigue due to the long hours of care provided for their loved ones. Financial burden is another major stressor in providing quality care for the bed bound elderly. On the whole there is a need to develop a supportive network for the caregivers which can be arranged from the family or community itself and thereby ease the burden for the caregivers