Difficult Seasons

Photo Credit: Simon James

Full-time family caregivers need respite — a break from the work, the responsibility, and the stress associated with providing care.

Research clearly shows that having breaks from caregiving extends the length of time the caregiver can provide care without burnout.

It also shows that caregivers who get breaks are less likely to develop serious medical conditions which will prevent them from being caregivers.

Several things seem to prevent caregivers from getting these breaks.

• The caregiver wants to be with the person they’re caring for 24/7.  This is especially true when the care receiver is a spouse or a child.  The caregiver simply doesn’t want to leave.
• Guilt:  How can they go off and have fun, get some rest, do some things just for themselves when their family member needs help?
• Money:  Paying someone else to provide care can be expensive.
• Lack of knowledge about available options.

Here are some things a caregiver can do to get periods of respite.

1.  Plan your day to include several short breaks away from your caregiving duties.  Doing almost anything else will break the stress and rejuvenate you.

• Try a walk around the block, having a good cup of coffee or tea on the back porch, making a trip to a bookstore just to browse, or whatever sounds like fun for you.
• If the person you care for can’t be left alone for short periods of time, recruit family members, friends, church members, etc. to come on a regular basis to give you the opportunity to take breaks.

2.  Make use of respite care services in your community.  Depending upon the needs of the person you are caring for, there may be a number of options for receiving respite care.

• Most communities have organizations and facilities that provide day respite care for Alzheimer patients and disabled senior adults.
• Many assisted living facilities can provide respite care for periods lasting from days to months.

Having a day off every week or two, or being able to get away for a few days or a week can be life giving, and can greatly extend the caregiver’s ability to continue providing care.

There are people who can help you figure out how to do this.  A good place to start is with your hospital social worker or your physician’s office.

Tags: caregiver burnout, respite care

This entry was posted on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 4:05 am and is filed under Caregiving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.