Roles and Coping Strategies of Sons Caring for a Parent With Dementia

Abstract

This study highlights the need to consider sons' role as care managers for their parent with dementia in community-based settings, as well as their need for education and intervention. Occupational therapy practitioners can use this information to inform their practices and support clients and their families.

Prioritizing the Needs of Caregivers of Older Adults to Support Their Help-Seeking Process as a First Step to Developing an eHealth Tool: The Technique for Research of Information by Animation of a Group of Experts (TRIAGE) Method

“…Increasingly, caregivers are turning to the internet to begin their search. Electronic health (eHealth) can support caregivers in this process [7-11]. Eysenbach defines eHealth as an emerging field at the intersection of medical information technology, public health and business, and referral to health services and information delivered or enhanced through the internet and related technologies [12].…”

Supportive strategies for men who perform a care role: an occupational perspective

“…The literature suggests that men and women respond differently to the care role (Di Novi, Jacobs and Migheli, 2015;McDonnell and Ryan, 2014). Men are thought to be more comfortable with the practical tasks of caring yet are thought to have difficulty with the emotional and personal aspects of caring (Grigorovich et al, 2016;McDonnell and Ryan, 2014), however other studies demonstrate that men do take on personal care tasks (Campbell, 2010). A further difference noted is in relation to paid employment, women are more likely to give up paid employment to take on a care role full time in the presence of illness or disability within the family (Walker, 2010;Wright, Crettenden and Skinner, 2015).…”

“…A care role for men may present a negative impact upon health, finance, the opportunity to take part in valued activities such as work, social relationships, and leisure. This could result in feelings of frustration, guilt, sadness and grief (Grigorovich et al, 2016).…”

“…For example, male carers are likely to receive increased service support compared to women (Bennett, 2009), and some gain a sense of purpose (Eriksson and Sandberg, 2007). There are also reports of learning new skills, knowledge and the development of close relationships with family members (Grigorovich et al, 2016).…”

“…Although women are still considered to be the main providers of care (Di Novi, Jacobs and Migheli, 2015;Walker, 2010) men can and do provide care within a range of roles that include partner or spouse, father, brother and son. It is increasingly likely that men will take on a care role due to factors such as increased longevity, reduced services associated with budgetary constraints, and social expectations (Grigorovich et al, 2016). Despite this, little attention has been given to the care role of men or the issues that may arise for men in a caregiver role (Eriksson and Sandberg, 2007;Sandberg and Eriksson, 2008) and there is a particular dearth of literature reporting on fathers who care for an adult child and older widowed men who provided care for their wives.…”