Caregiver Syndrome

Abstract

Caregiver syndrome is caused by continuous care without interrupting a chronic patient. The physical, emotional and economic difficulties experienced by caregivers, the losses in the functioning of the patient, and the absence of the caregiver's free time, negatively affect the quality life of caregivers. Some problems are common on the health of caregivers of chronic mental illness. Emotional exhaustion and depression can be seen in caregivers. One of the best ways a caregiver will follow to provide care is to develop the caregiver's own care plan. There are three steps in the caregiver self care plan. The first step is to understand that asking for help is normal. The second step is to define the help that you need. The third step is to search for sources of help that can be found around you. Strengthening nurses' home visits and caregivers is very important in the face of the syndrome that gives caregivers care.

A caregiver is a person who lives with the patient, who spends time with the patient, observes the patient, provides the care for the patient, provides support for the use of the medicines, takes the patient to the hospital for the controls, assists the patient and provides physical, emotional and social support [1]. Giving care has entered the daily lives of millions of people all over the world, regardless of language, culture or country. Millions of caregivers look after patients, elderly or disabled family members, their spouses or friends [2]. As the primary caregiver is at the center of the patient's daily life, as the responsibility to care for the patient increases, it becomes a one-way, addictive, intense and long-lasting obligation that puts the caregiver's life into trouble [3]. The caregiver role is an unpredictable experience that requires hard work, effort and effort. The physical, emotional and economic difficulties experienced by caregivers, the loss of functioning of the patient, and the absence of the caregiver's leisure time negatively affects the quality of care of the caregivers [4].

Difficulties of Caregivers

With the prolongation of human life and the increasing number of medical interventions for chronic diseases, in hospitals the care of individuals becomes costly. For this reason, care provided by family members has become even more important [5,6]. When this fact is taken into consideration, the extent of care (including caregiver conditions and needs) is more intensively examined to better understand the effect of care on the caregiver's. Research conducted over the past decade has focused on how caregiving leads to stress, depression, and anxiety in the person [7]. Psychosocial and economic difficulties may be seen in families who have to give long-term care in chronic mental illnesses. These difficulties can lead to emotional problems such as burden, depression, anxiety, burnout, physical health impairment, social isolation and economic difficulties, stress, shame, guilt, despair, anxiety, fear, stress, anger, loss and hopelessness [3,8-10].

Although problems related to the mental health of caregivers in chronic mental illnesses are common, an increase in the length of caregivers in caregivers can lead to emotional exhaustion and depression [11]. Because of all these factors, caregivers in chronic mental illnesses are often known as second-patients, who are not often seen and are important in the development of the quality of life of the patients. Giving care to the individual with chronic mental illness can have a negative impact on the caregiver. Caregivers of individuals with chronic mental illness experience high levels of burden and psychological morbidity, as well as social isolation, impaired physical health and financial difficulties [7,12].

The Effects of Being a Caregiver on Mental Health

In chronic mental illness, the caregiver's mental health affects a large number of factors such as the relationship with the caregiver, the condition of the patient, the stage of the illness and the lack of social support/social networking [13]. It is difficult to care for a close relative, especially when looking at a mother or father, a wife or sibling, a person's comprehension ability and physical abilities are weakening. Alzheimer's disease is getting worse by the day or the thought process such as dementia, to see they were trying to remember the names and faces of people are upset [13]. As the disease progresses, care for those with neurological disorders may be more difficult [6,14,15]. In neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's, as the disease progresses, the intensity of the care required can often be overwhelming due to caregivers. The person being looked after becomes increasingly indifferent, unable to communicate and/or become disabled [16].

Caregivers often feel isolated from family and friends when they are looking at their relatives. Caregivers often do not have time to maintain their friendship and social relations. As the care needs of the individual with chronic mental illness increases, the caregiver's social isolation may increase. A caregiver who does not receive adequate social support from her family and friends often feels isolated and lonely in this job, increasing tension [17]. Domestic conflicts exacerbate the feeling of isolation and loneliness that many caregiver's feelings. This can be twice as difficult as rural residents are geographically remote from support and services [18]. Taking social support can change the attitude of the caregiver to the illness even if it does not affect the actual tension created by the disease. Improving the psychological responses to stress and feeling the support from family and friends lets the caregiver to feel better [17].

Caregiver Syndrome

Caregiver syndrome, also known as caregiver stress, is a condition brought by an informal caregiver who is unconscious babbling, exhaustion, anger and guilt. One is more likely to suffer from an acute bout of caregiver stress if the individual is cared for by difficulties including fecal incontinence, aggression, sleep disturbance, wandering, and/or memory. The caregiver tends to complain about symptoms such as fatigue, gastrointestinal complaints, insomnia, and depression. Unrelenting caregiver stress can also have an impact on the caregiver's physical health, which can manifest as high blood pressure, diabetes, a compromised immune system, and a shorter life expectancy [19,20]. Often, many caregivers who are physically ill do not consider treatment as they are not aware that they are emotionally exhausted and physically ill. This burnout is referred to as "caregiver syndrome" with no formal acceptance around the world [21].

Caregiver syndrome is caused provide uninterrupted continuous care to the chronically ill. The cause of this of this syndrome is the prolonged stress of care giving stress and the resultant anxiety due to depression, anxiety, financial loss, physical strain and care. By controlling stress, anxieties or depression by taking control may prevent serious diseases such as caregiver syndrome [18].

Care Plan for Caregiver

One of the best ways that you can follow for care provided by caregivers, the caregivers are developing their own care plan. Caregivers use effective and ineffective coping methods to cope with the difficulties. Coping methods used by caregivers are influenced by the level of stress experienced [22]. The caregivers' methods of coping are related to the patient's condition, the caregiver's personal characteristics, and the caregiver's assessment of the patient's condition [23].

Informing caregivers by health professionals helps them cope more effectively with difficulties. Intervention programs organized for this purpose are important sources for their members to cope effectively with the difficulties they have experienced [24]. For example, it is stated that the program "First You Should Get Stronger" applied to caregivers of dementia patients has a positive effect on caregivers' healthful lifestyle behaviours and caregivers, and that the involvement of similar programs for caregivers in continuous and regular practice is important for the health of caregivers. It is also suggested that nurses working with demented individuals and other health professionals should also assess the caregivers of the patients and provide care within the "First You Should Get Stronger" program [25].

"Care plan for caregiver" provides a specific background for experiencing more positive things while caring for a certain initial work [2]. The Care Plan for Caregiver should consist of three parts.

The Caregiver's Self Care Plan has three steps:

Step 1

Understand that asking for help is normal.

People who care for someone else can ask people how they can help themselves, but very few of the caregivers do it. Caregivers can take a break from care during the caregiving period, for example they can take a week off. Caregivers should ask for help in order to protect their mental and physical well-being, if they think it is necessary. Caregiver should be told that asking for help is not a weakness. It should also be explained that it is important and possible for the caregiver to get the help. The first thing to do in this regard is to define the help the caregiver needs [26].

Step 2

Identify the help you need.

Defining the help you need is a very important step and can be difficult at first. Like every job, care is made up of a number of different tasks with the same importance. The important thing to do here is to pour everything that is done, even "small things" on paper [18].

Step 3

Investigate resources that you may help around.

Support programs for caregivers vary from country to country and culture to culture. In some countries, families are legally responsible for the protection of their elderly age [18]. In the recent legislation issued in the UK, caregivers are entitled to need assessment, support services and flexible working hours. Other countries are provided with paying a paid caregiver [17].

As a result, the strengthening of caregivers through home visits by nurses to do is very important. Caregivers in the community are generally not appreciated and do not receive adequate support from their relatives. However, caregivers have requirements to be appreciated, to participate in social environments, to get information, to get support, to protect and improve health, to get support from financial dimensions and to remove their needs. For this reason, nurses should give information to the caregivers about the issues they need in the process of care. Knowledge and support from the nurse enables the caregiver to provide effective and correct care to his/her patient.

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