Caregiving: Who Cares and/or Who Should Care

"The caregiving issues faced are not just medical, but economic, interpersonal, political, legal and spiritual."

This paper discusses the societal impact and implications of caregiving for those with chronic illness and impairment. Due to the high cost of caregiving - reviewed for the United States, China, and Malaysia - the researchers state that, with scarce resouces for family and community to cope with numerous needs, "family and society should interact more in caregiving process."

"Family unit responsibility and government support are intricately-linked components in the caregiving journey and processes. We envisage four key constructs of caregiving; spiritual, empathy, knowledge and policy [See image for a diagram]. Caregivers themselves need to acquire and transform pertinent knowledge and skills into care practices. Skilled caregivers can engage more effectively and smoothly in the caregiving processes and thus increase patients and caregivers quality of life. Such self-empowering of caregivers portends reduction of health care costs to societies and health-governing entities."

The situation in Malaysia is analysed, and it is suggested that a relevant policy framework should include implementable policy provisions on social-health care, long-term care, and augmentative social-services. With government-designed strategies to be more supportive of family caregivers, healthcare workers could offer them knowledge and skills using well-designed programmes and practices that might include respite care, job re-entry, and community services. The researchers found that caregivers are experiencing a lack of resources, leading to financial problems and a decreased quality of life, increased psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. The paper concludes that in Malaysia, more attention is needed for policy makers to develop social policy to address the needs of caregivers by providing caregiving programmes and services, as well as income supports.

Click here to download this study in Word format.