Many people serve as caregivers to help a loved one manage an illness or injury. The senior housing resource A Place for Mom says, between 2015 and 2020, the number of unpaid caregivers increased from 43.5 million to more than 53 million. Many caregivers assist seniors, but some also help younger adults with physical or mental disabilities.
Caregiving can be time-consuming on both a daily and yearly basis. The average length of time caregivers provide unpaid care is 4.5 years. As life expectancies increase, the number of caregivers is likely to grow. As more people take on caregiving duties, the challenges those individuals may confront have drawn more attention.
• Emotional and physical stress: American Senior Communities reports that 22 percent of caregivers say their personal health suffered upon taking on a caregiver role. Emotional stress has been particularly prevalent among people caring for someone with dementia.
• Conflict about care: Unpaid caregivers often juggle caregiving duties with the responsibilities of their own lives. Sometimes there is not an equitable division of time and one person or another may feel overburdened by caregiving tasks, resulting in disagreements with others.
• Increased depression and psychological distress: Research conducted by Maastricht University in 2018 revealed unpaid caregiving for 20 hours or more each week can result in impaired self-care for the caregiver. That may lead to feelings of depression or additional mental health issues.
• Financial stress: Providing unpaid care requires some to leave a full- or part-time job to provide assistance to a loved one. That results in lost wages that can adversely affect caregivers’ financial security. Furthermore, there may be expenses directly related to caregiving that caregivers pay from their own savings. According to AARP, 22 percent of caregivers report using all of their short-term savings, while 13 percent say they went through all of their long-term savings while taking care of elderly parents at home.
• Isolation and/or lack of privacy: Caregivers may not be able to get out as much to engage in recreational or even typical family activities. In addition, some caregivers report that caring for a loved one in a small space means boundaries are broken and it’s hard to enjoy any semblance of privacy.
• Physical demands: Caregivers can injure themselves or face physical strain when tasked with caring for someone with mobility issues. Lifting or helping someone move from beds, chairs or wheelchairs can strain various areas of the body.
• Time management: Balancing caregiving with other responsibilities can make it feel like there are not enough hours in a day. Caregivers also often decline invitations or miss out on gatherings because they cannot manage time to make it to events when the needs of the person in their care must take priority. Job loss also may occur when caregivers must be away from work to go to appointments or help in a caregiving setting.
Caregivers often devote many hours to helping loved ones. Various challenges that can be emotionally, physically and financially taxing can arise in these situations.
(Courtesy photo)
