Good Caregiver in Capitalism
The term caregiver refers to the people who are either paid or not paid to provide help to other people who may have some difficulties in carrying out their daily chores. The difficulty may come about because of health problem or because of aging (Stark 7). Caregiver can also be a member of a family who takes care of a sick person, a child, the aged, or people living with disabilities. The care for the old has been given priority in this study.
A recent study by the UN has shown that the world is experiencing a demographic shift whereby the number of the aged people is increasing rapidly. The rapid increase in the number of the aged is attributed majorly to two factors: the decrease in mortality and the decrease in fertility among the world population (Stark 10). People may have become used to the phrase the world is aging, but what they do not know is that majority of the aged are women. It is therefore suggested that in considering care giving for the aged, good measures should have older women in the center-stage.
Studies have shown that most caregivers are women, there is a variation in the way women, and men give care or respond to the care given to them by their gender and the opposite gender. Female caregivers have reported more cases of stress related to their care giving roles. The care giving roles vary and may range from household duties, shopping for groceries, phone calls and even maintain ace and repair (Stark 18).
Characteristics of a Good Caregiver
Caregiver should have sound judgment of people and situations. A good caregiver should know what the care recipient want even when they are not able to communicate. Caregivers should be confident and courageous since situations may require them to speak up in order to meet the needs of the recipient (Lovatt 209)
Caregivers should be of quick response and initiators. They should know what to be done and take actions without waiting to be directed. They should respond very fast to the emotional and the physical needs of the recipients (Lovatt212). Good initiatives and faster response would ensure that the recipients receive the best care even when they cannot communicate their needs.
Good caregivers should be enthusiastic about the work and the people they attend to, and the people around. The elders in most cases are lonely and isolated and need to be shown love by the caregivers. Caregiver should be compassionate to take away the pain and loneliness. They should smile, hug, laugh, and listen to the elders.
Caregivers should make homes haven for the elderly. The physical difficulty and the loss of memory may make elders see the homes old neglected ruins only standing to support them until they die. Caregivers should fill these homes with warmth and hope so that the elders can feel the hominess once again (Lovatt 213). Elders do not move around and homes should be made attractive for their sake.
Good caregiver should take control of every situation. They should be strong and do whatever situations demand for the satisfaction of recipient’s needs. Caregiver should not back down until the recipient has received proper attention (Lovatt 214).
Challenges of Caregivers in Capitalism
Some of the challenges that caregivers go through include the unwilling recipient. From the responses received during the interview, it was noted that some caregivers are willing to offer support but the recipients do not value or even appreciate the support. The paid caregivers are given small amount of money and this could easily demoralize any caregiver who is into care giving for monetary benefits only (Stark 17).
Caregivers also record a number of stress cases during their service delivery. Caring for the disabled elderly members of the society can lead to negative influence on the caregivers emotional and physical well-being.the caregivers who provide care to people suffering from Alzheimer are prone to anxiety and depression. In most cases, the caregivers reach these statuses because of the health conditions of the care recipients. When they take care of a person, they would form some emotional bonds (Stark 24). This makes the caregivers to feel for the elderly care receiver and feel so bad when the conditions continue to worsen.
Caregivers also experience the stress brought about by conflicts within the family that they are attending to. Life pressures have placed a lot of strain on individuals and sometimes caregivers find themselves on the receiving end. Capitalism has brought many problems like the occupational strains, the financial problems and all these are channeled towards the caregivers. These puts stress on the caregiver as the relationship continues. Deteroriating health conditions place more emotional burden on the caregiver (Stark 30).
Some caregivers have admitted that they sometimes feel that their personal identity is threatened and their social roles lost when they take care- giving work. Single caregivers, especially women tend to experience more self-loss than their male counter-parts (Stark 33). The care recipients with behavioral problems tend to cause more self-loss among the caregivers
Works cited
Lovatt, K. Etters. The Year Alice Moved To Attic. pp 209-214.Print
Stark, Agneta. Warm Hands in Cold Age – On the Need of a New World Order of Care. Feminist Economics 11(2), July 2005, 7 – 36.Print.