Providing respite care to carers of people with dementia Research Proposal

Providing respite care to carers of people with dementia - Research Proposal Example There has been a significant change in the provision of healthcare services in the recent decades whereby the balance of care is being shifted from communities and institution based services to personalized care. This shift in care provision has caused great concern in the field of public health mainly due to the fact that the carers of people with chronic illnesses such as dementia are now burdened with the added responsibility leading to a gradual and consistent deterioration of their own physical and mental health. Various researches conducted in the past have highlighted the gravity of the issue and pressed for policy changes in favour of providing respite care to the carers of people with dementia and making such care more accessible.The term respite care refers to in generic terms refers to short-term care. However in the field of healthcare it refers to phased care, relief care, planned care, programmed care, holiday care, social admission, and shared care. Various types of re spite care are now available for both the patients as well as their carers. This includes community based day care, institutional care, and paid or voluntary care services offered by institutions or volunteers or friends of the caregivers. Such care services can broadly be categorized as in-home care services, adult day centres - including provision of transportation and meal services; and residential care facilities - which affords break or vacation for the carers which are not covered under the insurance or Medicare.

2500 Word Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

2500 Word Portfolio - Essay Example The support worker does not necessarily work for a specific sector like the volunteer that works in the voluntary sector. Most support workers are employed in the private sector since the pay for support workers is good and the work involves specialized care for the patients. Support workers are also employed within the public sector and receive payments from the government. However, support workers do not work in the voluntary sector. The role of the support worker requires a person who not only supports patients but also displays certain other skills which include self-motivation, organizational skills, communication skills, flexibility, caring and sensitivity to others. The support worker requires these skills in order to manage and improve upon his work. He should be empathic to the needs of the patients, but while providing emotional and physical support, it is also required that the support worker be able to manage the work endorsed upon him. Since the support worker is aiding the sick, it needs to be understood that often times that sick are not capable to organizing their own lives. The support worker here has to fulfill all duties that the patient, himself is not able to do. This often requires the support worker to work outside the definitions of his profession. Therefore, flexibility is one need of the support worker (Prospectus, 2013). Good communication by the support worker is required in order to not just communicate with the patient but also with others related to the patient. This includes the family and friends of the patients, the doctor, and other authorities to whom the support worker has to answer to. In all these instances, the support worker needs to adopt a different tone and different attitude which thus requires good communication. The support worker would sometimes have to be empathic but at other times he would have to be strict; all these roles taken with the primary objective of improving the patient’s quality of