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Caregivers regularly
experience grief, anger, frustration, depression, despair,
helplessness, and discouragement. These emotions can build
to painful proportions unless released (Braza 1995).
Research on 352 caregivers in
four SA provinces confirms that caregivers suffer from
chronic stress that grinds away at their mental and physical
health, causing emotional damage in addition to physical
ailments (Gee, Matanda, Jaffer, Taylor 2010).
Long-term stress can rewire
the brain, leaving caregivers more vulnerable to everyday
pressures and less able to cope. Over time, stress can lead
to mental health problems such as anxiety, depression,
eating disorders and substance abuse.
Stress is associated with the
onset of depression and relapse in people who have recovered
from depression (Cohen 2001). This is not a good prognosis
for caregivers who are exposed to high levels of stress.
Cohen stated that "social stressors" as experienced by
caregivers are the biggest causes of severe depression.
Providing care to a person
who is dying and then losing that person is among the most
stressful of human experiences (Folkman 1998), resulting in
a sense of profound loss and grief when the patient dies.
Some SA caregivers attend
three or more patient funerals per week, building severe
emotional trauma (Gee, Matanda, Jaffer 2009).
Damaged caregivers – those
experiencing chronic stress, depression, fatigue and burnout
– can cause serious problems:
-
Reduced quality of
care – Severely stressed/depressed caregivers may
not care for and uplift patients effectively, and have
been reported to become hostile to patients in some
cases (Celano-2008).
-
Reduced productivity
– Caregivers in HAHACARE programs report they now
achieve more in less time, with significant reductions
in absenteeism and presenteeism.
-
Reduced quality of
life – Caregivers regularly experience serious
health and relationship problems resulting from work
stress. Many suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes,
sleep and digestive problems, crying, pain and
headaches.
-
High staff turnover
and training costs – Damaged caregivers often resign
with resulting interruption of service, loss of
investment, and recruitment/training costs.
THE CAREGIVER SOLUTION > |
