The Long-Term Effect on an Informal Carer of Caring for a Vulnerable Adult at Home

Introduction

There is a growing interest in the geographical dimensions of informal health care — care provided in home and community settings. Worldwide, informal care accounts for the vast majority of health care provision. Geographers have studied where informal care is provided, how changing policies affect informal care, how the places in which people live affect the intensity and quality of informal care, and how people actively create caring environments. Care is interwoven with social relations within and beyond the home, and it depends on relations of trust and mutual effort. People's experiences of home strongly affect the intensity and outcomes of informal care. These experiences differ by gender, age, and so on, according to socially and culturally defined roles and relationships. The geographies of informal care have been studied for vulnerable populations, notably immigrants, who rely on place-based social networks and local cultural resources as important sources of informal care. Everyday rituals related to food preparation, prayer, and social interaction is important in immigrants' efforts to maintain health and well-being in an unfamiliar environment. Approximately 30 percent of caregivers are men. National projected demographic trends suggest that increased longevity among men and women will increase the number of male and female caregivers across their life spans in the immediate future. As the 65 and over age group continues to grow toward an expected 79 million by 2050, future demands for informal care will greatly increase.

Informal care is usually provided in a home environment, by family or friends, and for an unspecified amount of time. Spouses will become the likely care givers in many informal care situations. Men predominantly will become informal care providers as they tend to be married or remarried in greater numbers than women. Husband plays an important role in caring for their wives with chronic illnesses. The choice of women and couples to remain childless or to have children later in life makes the need for caregiving spouses a growing priority. In this paper, the author will examine the long-term effect on an informal carer of caring for a vulnerable adult at home and also evaluate the support for informal carers provided by the state.

Long-term effects on an Informal Carer & Caring for a Vulnerable Adult at Home

The supply of hospital and health care is directly related to the bodies governed by public law or, under social conditions comparable to those applying for the latter, by hospitals, centers for medical and diagnostic and other establishments of the same kind legally recognized. The caregiver role has been found to be a positive experience by some people. Personal growth, strengthened family connections, and greater social networks have been found to result from the caregiving experience (Grant, 1993, pp. 58-71). Little is known about what types of rewards occur for caregivers and families in different types of situations. Studies indicate that the rewards of caregiving are impacted by what the caregiver perceives as the level ...