Supporting Families and Carers - Essay Example

SUPPORTING FAMILIES AND CARERS By of the of the of the School 28 May Introduction Supporting families and care giving aims at giving emotional and social support to vulnerable people in the society like the elderly, the sick and the disabled people. Care givers provide comfort, affirmation and emotional support to the less privileged people (Neufeld and Harrison 2010). This promotes affirmation in the society hence is important for the nursing profession because nursing is a form of home-based and community based care system (Qualls and Zarit 2009). In the film “We are not different, we just do different things”, Lizzie and her siblings take care of their sick mum. Lizzie’s level of commitment is however more compared to that of her siblings as most of the time she is taking care of her sick mum. As a result of this, she gradually becomes socially isolated. This paper is a discussion of social isolation in relation to supporting families and carers. Social Isolation This is the state in which an individual experiences a need for increased level of association with others, but is not able to make contact with them (Larsen and Lubkin, 2009). Because human beings are social in nature, they have a need for social interaction. Interacting with others and spending time with them offers a person a sense of belonging, thereby making life meaningful to them. The need for social support is an aspect that is firmly connected to social isolation. According to Larsen and Lubkin (2009, p. 88), social support is the “social context or environment that facilitates the survival of human beings by offering social, emotional, and material support needed and received by an individual”. Impact of Social Isolation on Young Carer and Family As mentioned earlier, life becomes meaningful through interaction and spending time with others, being able to enjoy common activities such as sports and going out with peers, having a clear mind as well as feeling free and being free among other things. In the case of Lizzie and her siblings, enjoying such things has been made impossible by their mother’s illness. Being a young carer, Lizzie seems particularly affected as she is even unable to concentrate in class as portrayed in the short film. When she gets back home from school and finds her mother’s cup of tea exactly where they left it with her siblings, she can’t help but worry and rush upstairs fearing the worst. Lizzie and her siblings live very different lives compared to their peers. While their peers are able to get early to school and begin classes in time, Lizzie and her two siblings are always late. This doesn’t happen on a few occasions, rather it happens every day and their respective teachers seem particularly concerned. Joshua’s teacher is able to enquire whether there could be a problem from Joshua, but it seems the issue is not something Joshua is ready to talk about with his teacher. For this reason, instead of telling her what the problem is, he assures her that everything is okay while it is not. In the United Kingdom, young carers are substantial in number (Bradshaw 2011). In fact, were not for the fact that they are defined differently and most of them are hidden making local authorities and relevant organisations not aware of them, the number is suspected to be bigger than what is there in the United Kingdom statistics. According to Bradshaw (2011, p. 172), in a survey conducted by the University of Nottingham together with the British Broadcasting corporation (BBC), “about 1 in 12 of around 4,000 schoolchildren surveyed said they had caring responsibilities such as carrying out personal care for someone at home”. Teater (2014, p. 76) defines carers as “people who provide care for friends, partners, family or neighbours on an unpaid basis”. Young carers can be defined in the same way and they usually fall between the ages of sis and eighteen. Carers are involved in different activities such as providing physical, personal, emotional, psychological, and financial care to individuals who need support due to disability, mental and physical health problems or addiction. The more hours of care are required by an individual under care, the more a carer’s wellbeing and health is impacted. In the case of Lizzie and her siblings, it is not mentioned whether they provide financial care to their mother since none of them seems to be doing any kind of job, but they provide physical, personal, emotional and psychological care. Marshall, Kendall, Banks and Gover (2009, p. 46) point out that “isolation reflects the hidden nature of young caregiving, feelings of aloneness and difficulties in sharing caregiving experiences with others”. The experience of being a carer is a very lonely one (OConnell, Finnerty and Egan 2008). For young carers, it is particularly serious since they are at an age in which they would like to have fun, play and hang out with friends. For those who manage to engage in such activities, they have very little time. Most of the time is spent helping out and staying at home to give company to the individual being cared for. Lizzie has agemates that she schools with, but apart from attending classes, she is required to stay at home and help out in taking care of her sick mother. She has no time to have fun, play and hang out with friends. Embarrassment is another impact of social isolation depicted in the short film. Lizzie and her siblings are all embarrassed about their situation. This can be seen from the fact that none of their friends or schoolmates comes to visit and they also do not visit them. At school, none of them is willing to tell the problem to the teacher. It seems that the only time they can let the issue come to light is when there is a crisis that they cannot sort out. This is usually the case for child and adolescent carers. On families, social isolation results when the members withdraw from society to protect themselves from curiosity and pity. Lizzie and her siblings prevent raising curiosity and attracting pity by pretending that everything is okay. Families also fear having to deal with certain actions such as the removal of some members from the unit hence they fail to talk about matters affecting them. For parents, there is fear that “talking about such matters will lead to children being taken away or children may fear a parent being admitted to hospital” (Norman and Ryrie 2013, p. 385). Social isolation also leads to stress in young carers. In the case of Lizzie and her siblings, the presence of stress can be seen in the way they live their day to day lives. Lizzie and her brother Joshua are always in deep thought, and due to this, they are unable to concentrate in class. Lizzie seems to be thinking so much of her mother who is left alone at home while she and her siblings go to school and she attempts calling home to check on her during class time. According to Heron (1998, p. 182), the triggers that help identify stressed young carers include “lateness, absences, leaving school early, going home at lunch-time, a drop in standard of work, general exhaustion, falling asleep in class, poor academic performance, and a variety of behaviour problems”. Lizzie and her siblings display a variety of these triggers. Joshua’s academic performance seems to be getting worse raising the concern of his teacher. He also goes home during school time. Lateness affects all the siblings. How Nurses can help cope with Social Isolation As primary healthcare providers, nurses are in a good position to identify young carers. According to Heron (1998, p. 182), “they should be aware of families where parents have long-term disabilities, particularly where there is a single parent, and inform them of the support which may be available for young carers”. In what ways is it Social Isolation? Ways Nurses can help Families Social isolation and Nursing Services available to help the Young Carer Cope Support available for Young Carer and Family References Bradshaw, J., 2011. The Well-being of Children in the UK. Bristol: The Policy Press. Heron, C., 1998. Working with Carers. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd. Larsen, Pamala D. and Lubkin, Ilene M., 2009. Chronic Illness: Impact and Intervention. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Marshall, C. A., Kendall, E., Banks, M. E. and Gover, R. M. S., 2009. Disabilities. Westport: Praeger Publishers. Neufeld, A. and Harrison, Margaret J., 2010. Nursing and Family Caregiving: Social Support and Nonsupport. New York: Springer Publishers. Norman, I. and Ryrie, I., 2013. The Art and Science of Mental Health Nursing: Principles and Practice. Berkshire:Open university Press. OConnell, C., Finnerty, J. and Egan, O., 2008. Hidden Voices: An Exploratory Study of Young Carers in Cork. Dublin: Combat Poverty Agency. Qualla, Sarah H. and Zarit, Steven H. Ed., 2009. Aging Families and Caregiving. New York: John Willey & Sons. Teater, B., 2014. Contemporary Social Work Practice. Berkshire: Open University Press. Why is this issue important for the carer/family? What impact does social isolation have on the carer and family? How can nurses help cope with social isolation? In what ways is it social isolation? How can nurses intervene to help the family? Why is this issue important for nursing? What services are available to help the young carer cope? What support is available for the young carer and family? Read More