The rapid growth of the oldest-old with chronic illness, more women employed outside the home, more complex family structures, and increasing racial and class inequities all have contributed to intensifying the demands on families to provide more complex care for longer periods of time and for multiple relatives. This can be very burdening as care is not cheap. Informal care giving saves the American health care system a very substantial amount of money—the estimated economic value contributed by family caregivers to society is 350 billion! These strains are why I think that informal care giving is going to continue to be a growing field. It is financially very expensive to provide formal care for people, which makes informal care a more viable option. I think that it would be safe to say that many people do not know a lot about informal care, but I think that with time that is going to change. I think that in order for this to be successful, we need to show more appreciation to informal caregivers. We are going to need the field to grow along with the growth of knowledge and use in the field, however I think that many people do not find that to be a desirable field to work in. I think that this desire needs to change through greater appreciation and value shown to the people working in the field. If we do more to create a good experience for caregivers, we will be able to expect them to give our relatives and elders a good experience in the care giving process.
No comments:
Post a Comment